


Quarantine

by Zoya113



Category: The Guy Who Didn't Like Musicals - Team StarKid
Genre: Angst, F/F, F/M, Fluff, PTSD, Panic Attacks, Snapshots, Wow the whole gangs here, one shots, post apotheosis
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-06-11
Updated: 2020-04-11
Packaged: 2020-04-24 14:25:23
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 24
Words: 39,963
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19175149
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Zoya113/pseuds/Zoya113
Summary: A few snapshot short stories about the residents of Hatchetfield settling back into day-to-day life post apotheosis





	1. Pillows

**Author's Note:**

> Mainly based off the idea that Emma, Melissa and Danny were uninflected at the end
> 
> OH by the way is anyone going to the Black Friday Backers Brunch?

All her life Emma had one goal: to avoid dying in Hatchetfield, but now she didn’t have much choice.  
‘Quarantine.’ That was the world used by General Schauffer to describe the recently shut-off island. No one was allowed in or out of Hatchetfield until PEIP could be sure the infection couldn’t spread and who knew how long that’d take.  
The meteor was gone- blown to pieces almost definitely, but the spores and infection remained.  
The only sign left of infection were the brief, sloppily choreographed solo’s Hatchetfield citizens occasionally broke out into.  
Emma and Melissa and one or two other people Emma never had the chance to meet were labelled not ‘survivors’ but ‘controlled participants.’ They were constantly called in for testing to see if the infection could still spread.  
“Controlled participants,” Melissa spat. “That’s the worst use of doublespeak I’ve ever heard.”  
“What does it mean?” Emma had asked.  
“It means they aren’t letting us off the island. We’re part of the test,”  
“Oh don’t think of it that way,” Colonel Schauffer had quietened the survivors quickly. “It’s more like a Quarantine,”  
“For how long?” Asked a younger boy, maybe about Melissa’s age.  
“For the foreseeable future,” Colonel had turned away so they knew questions were over. They were dismissed by another PEIP member all together.  
That was life in Hatchetfield now, everything seemed to continue on unfazed by the meteor but Emma knew better.  
Every strangled impromptu song still scared the life out of her, and it was only ever worse from Paul.  
“Shit, Sorry Em,” Paul put his hand to his throat like he had a bad cough. “I’ve been doing that a lot recently huh?”  
“I hate it when you do that,” Emma had her hands clamped over her ears and her back turned to Paul. “You’ve been doing it all day.”  
“I know but,” Paul came over to put his hands on Emma’s shoulders, sitting besides her on the couch. “Don’t be scared, it’s more like hiccups, rights?”  
No one seemed to be able to understand how terrifying each song could be.  
“You don’t have to be scared,” he tried to comfort her but he would never be able to work out where she was coming from. She was never infected. He soothed Emma for a moment, cuddling her up against his chest and shutting his mouth as not to risk any songs slipping out.  
“Better?” He asked after a few minutes of nice silence.  
Emma shrugged. “Are you getting worse?”  
“No,” Paul tried to explain. “I’m just going through a bit of a rough patch, just like having a cold!” He cupped her chin in his hands and lifted her head up to look him in the eye.  
“That doesn’t make it any better,” Emma prodded his chest, looking back down away from his neon blue specked eyes.  
He kissed her forehead, assuming she wasn’t stable enough for a proper kiss.  
He chuckled a little, “I don’t bite,” and then he recoiled, his hand back on his throat, and it was clear to Emma he didn’t mean to say that.  
He let go of Emma and moved to stand by the window, looking up at the moon.  
“It’s night, lets go to bed alright?”  
“Not after that rhyme.”  
“Ah, Sorry Em,” he wiped his arm over his mouth as if he was getting rid of a bad taste. “That was the last one, I promise hun.”  
“And again,” she pointed at him, taking a cautious step away. “Maybe I’ll go stay at Melissa’s place tonight, just to be safe.”  
Paul laughed sheepishly, “if you feel safer that way. I can’t infect you though, you know,” he held open his arms incase Emma needed any more comfort. “Do you want me to call Melissa?”  
Emma rolled her head to the side. “No, no,” she sighed. “It’s okay. But just don’t-“ she made a gesture with her hands. “Just stay on your side of the bed.” She scooped up a collections of pillows off the couch, determined to take them all in one go to avoid making a second trip.  
“What’re you doing?” Paul asked.  
“Building a wall,” Emma’s response was muffled by her pile of pillows. She dumped them on the bed with a huff.  
“That seems a bit extra,” Paul laughed anxiously.  
“It’s not extra, it’s safe,” she lined up the pillows in the middle of the bed. “You aren’t one hundred percent clean so as much as I love you I can’t trust you for shit,” she pointed a finger at him.  
“Yeah, that’s understandable,” Paul nodded tiredly. He took off his shirt to change into his pyjamas as Emma set up the wall.  
“I’m not taking risks when you’re getting riled up like that. I don’t know what the Hive did to you to make you forget how scary all that singing is but it’s fucking shit to see that you’re still infected when we went to all that effort to blow up the meteor,” Emma pulled up the sheets on her side of the bed as Paul sat down on his. “It’s like, you don’t even need that much sleep anymore! Awful suspicious that you’re trying to get me to bed so early bud.”  
Paul winked flirtingly but Emma wasn’t up for it, he shrugged in the end, “I’m trying to understand it better, I know it can scare you and I’m just trying to recognise that better.” He stuck to his side of the pillow wall. “I can’t tell if the Hive has skewed my judgement but I trust you if you say it has.” He sunk down into the mattress and pulled up the sheets, rolling onto his side to look at Emma over the wall. “I know I don’t need much sleep but it’s just nice to keep to a schedule and to you know, lie next to you,” he blushed blue.  
She looked back into his eyes, the bright blue colour has dimmed down again. “Good night Paul,” she reached her hand through the bottom of the pillow wall to take his briefly. “You better be more yourself in the morning or I’m gonna called PEIP to send you in for testing.”  
“You know they’ll have to test you too again though right?”  
Emma nodded. “I can take that inconvenience if it means you’ll snap out of it.”  
Paul snorted. “Well thanks for looking after me I think, he rubbed circles into Emma’s hand. “Good night Em.”  
Emma knew Paul had trouble falling asleep after his infection but as much as she wanted to stay up until she was sure he was asleep she couldn’t keep her eyes open and as much as she fought to keep her eyes open she was asleep in minutes.  
“Hey,” Paul whispered quietly.  
Emma opened her eyes, she wasn’t sure how long she had been asleep. She took in a deep breath, trying to figure out what was going on but still half asleep.  
“Hey, hey,” Paul mumbled again quietly.  
“What’s up?” She yawned.  
Paul nudged her. “Sorry, you’re just on my side of the bed and I thought-“  
“Hm?” Emma shook her head until she was properly awake. She was gripping into Paul’s pyjama shirt and buried into his chest, the pillow wall completely cast aside.  
She pushed back from him to her own side of the bed.  
“Sorry to wake you up, I just...” Paul was careful not to talk too much incase he had a chance to sing.  
“It’s okay,” Emma rubbed her eyes, setting back up the pillow fort. “Thanks for warning me.” She smacked one of the pillows with her hand as if she was testing the stability of her wall. “It’s just like,” she tried to explain. “You know, they just must’ve been kicked aside.”  
Paul smiled and brushed stray hairs out of his face, yawning sleepily. “You moved them yourself,” he told her.  
“What?”  
“I haven’t been able to fall asleep, I was just talking to myself a little,” he sounded embarrassed by this. “And you were mumbling back so I just kept talking to you,” he sounded fond of the thought. “And you pushed the pillows aside yourself to lie next to me, so I woke you up just to let you know.”  
Emma snorted. “Aww, you were talking to me?” She teased.  
“I got bored trying to fall asleep,” he shut his eyes but he was still awake. “I was trying to talk the rhymes out so you didn’t have to worry or go through any of that PEIP testing because of me.”  
Emma winked open one eye with a grin. “For me?”  
“Well yeah, sort of,” Paul ran a hand through his hair, rolling onto his back to avoid Emma’s teasing look. “You always say it’s so lengthy and a waste of your time and I mean, testing is never much fun anyways, I’m a little scared of all the needles.”  
Emma pushed one of the pillows away to kiss Paul’s cheek. “Sorry for making such a big deal out of it.”  
“Don’t apologise,” he breached the pillow wall to wrap an arm around her. “It’s not easy settling back down after an Apocalypse.”  
“Yeah, fucking tell me about it,” she smiled as she nuzzled back up into Paul’s chest.  
For now, they were both doing just fine.


	2. Routine

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Melissa still gets scared when she hears singing

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> idk why my italics don't show up when I post the text oufasdfjaksdh  
> anyways this one was super long

Melissa liked routine. Routine meant no chaos and no chaos meant no musical-zombie apocalypse. Things had to happen in order, there was no other way around it. 

7:15 - Melissa wakes up for work   
7:30 - Shower and dress   
7:45 - Eat breakfast   
8:00 - Leave for work 

That was how things were supposed to happen. No exceptions no excuses.   
At 7:55 she packed her bag, making sure she remembered her noise-cancelling headphones and then at 8:00 she was out the door. 

8:45 - Arrive at work early

She had to come early to make sure everything was safe. To make sure there were no singing aliens infecting CCRP. Clearly, she was the only one who knew how to deal with them, that was why she didn’t get infected. That was a fact and that was just how it was going to go. Arrive early to keep her friends safe.   
If she stuck to the schedule then everything would be fine, she was sure.   
She checked every entrance to make sure only one door was open, she did scans of the security cameras to make sure nothing happened overnight, she went from the top floor to the bottom floor to ensure they were entirely vacated and only then she could bring herself to sit down at her desk.

9:00 - Work begins

Most people don’t show up until 9:01 or 9:03 though, she didn’t like that. It’d be easier if everyone could just show up on time so she didn’t have to worry about where they were and run her thoughts on the possibility of her friends being infected, she really preferred not to think about it. Melissa liked routine but this was not routine. 

Today it was 9:10 when Mr Davidson arrived at work, he was in his office in two minutes and everything was quiet again. The workers took that as their signal to start the day and everyone turned to their computers and papers to begin. A little off schedule but she was used to her boss being late. 

She reached into her bag for her noise cancelling headphones, made sure they were tight around her ears and then let the day take her away. She could concentrate a lot better when there was no noise. 

“Good morning Melissa!” Paul greeted her as he walked in at 9:13. 

She looked up from her laptop and waved at him, slipping off her headphones and putting them down on the table. 

He came up to her desk to talk but he crossed the invisible line she had created on the ground.

“Woah!” Melissa exclaimed in warning, pointing at his feet. She couldn’t allow anyone to get that close to her. 

“Oh, sorry,” Paul took a step back, nodding understandingly. “I wanted to let you know I was going down to Beanies, do you want the usual?”

She gave him a silent thumbs up and a thankful nod. Melissa appreciated that. She liked ‘the usual,’ she liked things to work on her schedule and Paul tended to be very good at keeping up his half of the plan. 

At 9:30, Mr Davidson exited his office to come to the centre of the room to tell everyone about what had to be done today. 

The Hive still liked to be together Melissa thought. Mr Davidson never used to have these big office chats but now they were commonplace and sprinkled frequently throughout the day, she had asked her boss to give her some warning but he always forgot. She didn’t like that, it wasn’t routine, but she tried to understand. The Hive no longer shared their link but it seemed like they liked to fill that space by being as close to each other as possible. Melissa wasn’t ever quite included in these group discussions, she was unsure if that was because she was the secretary or if she had never been part of the Hive but she didn’t mind feeling left out. 

Now was as good a time as ever to go double check all the doors were locked. She had done so this morning but someone might’ve snuck in from the outside. She wouldn’t have been able to tell if she had her headphones on. 

She stood up and Mr Davidson let her go without asking why.   
She sighed to herself, she was feeling particularly on edge today. Maybe it had to do with everyone coming in late. 

She made her way to the back exit on the first floor and tested the lock. It had stayed shut since last time, no break-ins or any sort of funny business. She gave a confirming nod for no one but herself. It was just how she had left it. 

She wandered up back through the hallways and could hear Mr Davidson’s deep voice addressing each of her co-workers.

Her boss caught his breath and cleared his throat. He sang out a little line that made Melissa’s skin crawl.   
This was normal for him, while some others preferred to keep their songs to a minimum if they could he always found them fun. 

A chorus of other co-workers joined in too, it was a song they had all heard before she was sure, nothing new orchestrated by the Hivemind. She had to keep reminding herself it was a voluntary choice.

That was no problem, she didn’t want her fears to get in the way of people going about their own days. She reached for her noise-cancelling headphones around her neck but her hands went right through the space they should’ve been. 

She stopped in her tracks, her heart thudding against her chest. She had left them on her desk. 

She backed up a few paces, grinding her teeth and placing her hands over her ears.   
Then three more voices joined in and then four and then another group of five, the song was overwhelmingly loud. They all laughed and sung with more cheer than they should’ve, it had been a long time since the Hive had any sort of power like this. 

She pressed her palms up harder against her ears and backed up into a wall.   
“Oh no, no no, this can’t be happening,” she tried to speak over the noise but to no avail. 

9:30-10:00 - Work on the morning report

She checked her watch, 9:40, this wasn’t on the schedule. They shouldn’t be singing, why were they singing? 

She left everything at her desk. No headphones, no weapons, no keys.   
She was trapped.

She dived for the storage closet and pushed a broom up against the handle, taking her hands off her ears for no longer than a minute.   
How did she let this happen? Keeping them safe was supposed to be her responsibility but something must have gone wrong. 

This wasn’t just a harmless song, this was the infection for sure. 

She scrambled through the storage closet looking for anything she could use as a weapon.   
It was now 9:43, the storage closet wasn’t part of her routine. 

The chill, dusty air made her stomach turn, it was nearly 10:00 and that was supposed to be when she handed in her morning report to Mr Davidson and started collecting orders for coffee runs. 

Now she was deviating from her own schedule. This wasn’t routine, this was chaos. She needed to fix it quick.   
She shook her head.  
That means nothing, she told herself. It’s just a silly schedule you made yourself. It’s got nothing to do with the apotheosis. But that didn’t make her feel better. She dragged a cleaning cart up against the door, she wasn’t going to let them get to her.   
She reached for her phone, she could call Emma. Emma would help her out of here. Emma had survived the first time, she would be fine this time. 

The infection must be spreading by now for sure.

she breathed in deeply and held her breath in her lungs, she had to be reasonable about this.   
She wrestled her phone out of her pocket. 

At 9:50, Emma answered the phone. 

“Wow, three phone calls is a bit excessive don’t you think? Did you miss me?” The girl laughed, she had no clue what was going on. “I just got on break, good timing. What’s up?” 

Melissa couldn’t bring herself to answer. 

“Melissa?” Emma asked again with increasing urgency. “Is something up or was this just a pocket dial?” 

Melissa wasn’t sure what to say. She took in a deep breath of air. “Uh,” she had to say something to catch Emma’s attention to keep her on the line. 

“Is everything alright?” 

Melissa gripped at the side of her head to gesture that her headphones were missing even though she knew Emma couldn’t see. “They’re singing,” she managed to choke out.   
She hadn’t realised she was crying. She wiped her eyes with the scratchy sleeve of her blazer until they were dry.

“Who’s singing?” Emma asked, her own voice catching. “Melissa, where are you?” 

“I’m in the closest,” she explained but failed to elaborate. “Because they’re all singing, all of them. It’s back, Emma.” 

“I’m coming to get you out of there. Do you want to stay on the line?” 

Melissa shook her head. “I have to listen. I need to make sure they can’t tell I’m here.” 

“Well, neither of us have to say anything. We can just listen. I need to make sure you’re safe.” 

Melissa nodded and settled her phone down on the floor of the closet. 

“Zoey I’m just doing a delivery, I’ll take my break when I’m back,” came Emma’s voice from the other side of the phone. 

“Going to see your boyfriend?” 

“Yep.” 

Melissa could hear the bell above the door ring as Emma left. 

She crawled to the door to listen for sound on the other side. She couldn’t hear the singing anymore, they must’ve left, they must be moving on to the rest of Hatchetfield. 

Surely someone would notice she was missing. The quiet had to be a trap if she left someone would be outside waiting for her. 

She resigned herself to the corner of the closet and tried to hold her thoughts still. 

Maybe there isn’t a second apotheosis, she tried to reason. Maybe they were just singing for fun, they do that sometimes! Maybe today was just a bad day for my nerves and maybe they have all just gone back to work.  
She fiddled with her fingers and then checked her watch. 

10:00 - she was supposed to take orders for the coffee run. 

If everything was fine someone should’ve been looking for her by now. 

There was a beep on the phone as Emma entered in through the automatic doors.   
“Melissa, I’m nearly here okay? Where are you?” 

“Can you hear them?” Melissa whispered. “I’m in the closet at the end of the hallway. Are they singing?” She repeated. 

“I don’t know I’m just-“ Emma stopped talking and she could hear muffled voices on the other end of the line, something about a coffee delivery. 

There was a faint sound of footsteps and then Emma put the phone back to her ear. “Melissa, everything is fine, no one is singing I promise. I’m at the closet now, I’m coming in. I have your headphones.”

“Hold on,” Melissa stood up to remove the brooms and the cleaning trolley before creaking open the door. 

Emma hung up the phone and held out a hand to guide Melissa out. 

Melissa shook her head. “I swear they were singing.”

Emma handed her the noise cancelling headphones. “I should get a pair of these,” she commented. “Come on, it's nearly ten, don’t you have your coffee run to do?” 

Melissa nodded, putting her headphones on. She checked her watch. 10:04. She was supposed to have started already. She had been messing up her schedule a lot today. It made her stomach feel bad. She would have to make up the time somewhere else in the day.

Emma said something but she couldn’t hear. 

She let the silence wrap her back up again, it was like crawling under the blankets after a long day. 

Emma gestured for her to take her headphones off. “I said I’ll give you a hand with the orders.”

She barely had time to process what her friend had said before she heard footsteps and a quiet humming. 

She grabbed Emma’s hand and bolted, probably pulling Emma along faster than she could move on her bad leg.

She felt a hand on her shoulder that stopped her moving any further and her first reaction was to scream. She swung her fist around and it connected with someone’s head. The hand came off her shoulder and she jumped to distance herself from the stranger. 

“Woah, careful!” Emma tried to calm her down. “It’s just Paul.” 

Paul stood besides Emma with his hand nursing his head. “Sorry, my fault.”

Melissa caught her breath. “Paul? What’s going on?” 

Emma let Melissa continue to hold her hand but she gave her other hand to Paul to provide him with some comfort as he rubbed his head. “Sorry, I text Paul to know I was in.” 

“I didn’t mean to scare you,” he gave a surprised laugh. “I didn’t mean to grab you, but you were pulling Emma a little too fast. The doctor says she isn’t supposed to be using her bad leg all that much. It was just my first reaction. I really should’ve thought about it,” Paul tried to defend himself. “Are you okay Melissa? You look scared.” 

“She says you were all singing,” Emma told him. 

Melissa liked being around Emma, she did most of the talking when Melissa couldn’t. 

“Oh, Mr Davidson got carried away as per usual. I came looking for you as soon as he did but you were gone. I thought maybe you had started the coffee run early.”   
Getting carried away was not ‘as per usual.’ It wasn’t on her schedule at all. It was just not supposed to happen. Melissa scoffed. “I wouldn’t start it before 10:00, that would be off schedule!” She had no reason to go off her schedule, breaking it would just be silly. 

“Well it’s almost ten past now, so how about we start together? Are you up for it?” 

Melissa nodded but the idea of going back out into the office cubicles was scary, even if everyone had stopped singing. 

“Well let's start with just Paul then,” Emma suggested, reading her expression. “And he’ll have just a black coffee, just the usual,” Emma told her without needing to confirm it with her partner first. 

“And can you do that, Emma?” Paul asked.

“I can do that, Paul,” Emma nodded. 

“And Bill will have a caramel frappe, can you do that Emma?” 

“I can, Paul.”

They went through the list of names they had memorised together, Melissa liked people who had the same order every time. She liked that Emma confirmed every drink she could or couldn’t make today, it meant no surprises, no last-minute changes to what had to be done, it meant routine, and Melissa liked routine.


	3. Testing

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Paul comforts Melissa after Emma accidentally frightens her

“Well Mr Matthews, the results came back and your blood is getting cleaner every day!” Colonel Schauffer took care of most of the in-person testing whenever she could to keep as many people off the island as she could. She liked it to say as quarantined as possible.  
“Thanks, that’s good to hear,” Paul rolled his sleeves down. “What about Emma?”  
The colonel checked her clipboard and sighed. “Well they’re still going through their testing, you can wait in the lobby in the mean time Mr. Matthews.”  
“Thank you, Colonel.” He hurried out of the testing room in silence as Schauffer worked away in the corner entering data into a laptop.  
A few people were scattered about the lobby waiting for their own test results to return and he quietly took a seat closest to the door. 

‘Just sent blood off for testing now fingers crossed they finally let us off this piece of shit island’

Emma had sent that message half an hour ago. They should’ve had the results back by now but he had received no text from her. 

‘Everything okay?’ He text back. 

“Piss off! That’s all bullshit!” The testing door violently swung open, the doorknob crashed into the wall behind.  
A young man stormed out, his hands thrown up in the air in denial. “No, I don’t need this shit right now okay? Jesus Christ, you’re gonna keep us here forever.”  
“Ugh, Danny! Calm down for two fucking seconds okay!? If you keep running out on us we’ll never finish these tests!” That was Emma.  
There was a frightened squeak from Melissa and a sigh of defeat from a PEIP tester.  
Everyone in the hallway turned to watch Danny as he stomped down the hallway, reaching for a box of cigarettes in his pocket.  
Paul stood up and snuck up to the testing room doors.  
“Is everything okay?” He asked, peering in.  
“Oh, Mr. Matthews,” a man in a white lab coat greeted him, a similar clipboard in his hands. His lab coat had the PEIP logo on it in bold letters. “Come in, we just have a few more tests left to run.”  
“No we don’t,” Emma took Paul’s hand and gestured for Melissa to stand up, taking hers as well. “No, we’re done, what does it even matter?”  
“What’s up?” Paul whispered.  
“We’re leaving, okay?” She didn’t say goodbye to the tester and dragged her companions out of the room.  
“We weren’t supposed to leave until 1:00!” Melissa protested, checking her watch.  
“Well testing ended early,” Emma huffed. Paul got into the front seat of his car and waited impatiently for the other two. “What happened? Why’d Danny leave early?”  
“He’s pissed,” Emma crossed her arms. “We all tested clear! Of fucking course we all tested clear but you know what?”  
“What?” Paul looked at Melissa in the mirror, she slipped her noise cancelling headphones on, shying back from Emma’s shouts.  
“They aren’t letting us off the island yet! We have to stay here for another fucking however-goddamn-long for another billion tests that’ll all say the same thing!”  
Paul nodded. “Well did they say you had to stay?”  
“Pretty much!”  
Melissa shrugged in the back seat. “Well,” she mumbled. “They said they would give us a more specific time period when we finished testing for the day but we didn’t finish.”  
“Melissa, they wouldn’t have told us anything. They tell us that every time, why do you think Danny left?”  
“Ugh,” Melissa sunk into her seat and pressed her headphones into her ears, turning to look out the car window as they turned off the street.  
“Just think of it one day of a time. Do you want to get lunch before you head back to work? Take your mind off it?”  
“Just take me home Paul.” 

“How’d testing go?” Bill leant over from his desk, glancing at Paul.  
“Um, yeah. It went alright. It just went on a little bit longer than usual but it wasn’t too busy here I hope?”  
Charlotte shook her head. “Nothing much. What did the tests say?”  
“Oh! Looking all good.”  
“And what about Melissa? She’s been in a rough mood since you two got back,” Bill asked.  
Paul frowned, “really? I’ll go talk to her.” He stood up from his table and made his way upstairs to the front desk. He watched Melissa from the staircase, she was bouncing her leg and pressing her headphones up tight against her ears, her eyes fixed on her watch.  
He approached her cautiously, managing to keep his distance.  
‘Are you okay?’ He signed to her.  
She shook her head in a frantic ‘no,’ her eyes only looking away from her watch for a second.  
“Do you want to get some fresh air?” He offered. “We can talk about it.”  
Melissa’s eyes darted to Mr. Davidson’s office and then she nodded, picking up her bag and following Paul out the door.  
They walked in an disconcerting silence towards the park that was halfway between Beanies and CCRP.  
“Did your blood come back clean?” Paul started, sitting down on a park bench and gesturing for her to sit with him.  
Melissa nodded. She didn’t really do the talking.  
“Are you feeling nervous?”  
Another nod.  
“What about?” He gave Melissa a second to prepare to speak.  
“Emma’s not happy,” she answered, sliding her headphones off her ears and fiddling with them. “Really not happy.”  
“Yeah, she was pretty angry when she was heading off to work. I got like twenty texts. She’s been feeling cooped up on the island, she likes to travel so she’s been taking it pretty rough. You don’t have to worry about it.”  
“No, she’s not just mad about that,”  
Melissa pulled her phone from her bag and gave it to Paul, there was a series of texts between her and Emma on the screen.

‘Are you mad at me?’

‘Why would I be?’ 

‘You were yelling in the car. It scared me.’

‘Sorry for being loud but I’m fucking pissed. I don’t think you’re as mad about this as you should be Melissa.’ 

Paul sighed and handed her phone back. “Emma isn’t mad at you if that’s what you’re worried about.”  
Melissa sighed too and dropped her head.  
“She just wants to get off the island.”  
“I know. She can get really mad about it sometimes but it isn’t your fault.”  
Melissa shrugged and fiddled with her headphones some more. “She was really mad during testing.” Melissa’s voice dropped significantly, meaning she was about to talk in something longer than her usual three or four word utterances. “At first she was happy to get the day off work and she was even smiling when they took blood,” Melissa’s eyes darted around the park to assure no one was listening. “Last test, they told us if we came back clean that the colonel would look into preparing to let us off the island. Everything came back clear for all three of us, no one has been second-hand infected.”  
“Well that’s good then isn’t it?”  
“They were lying, Paul, they weren’t going to let us off regardless.” She leant against his shoulder, crossing her arms. “Of course they were, I told Emma not to get her hopes up but she really believed them.”  
Paul nodded as he listened. “Yeah, that would ruin her day. But that’s PEIP’s fault, you know?”  
“I just can’t stand the shouting.” She rubbed her eyes as if she were crying but her eyes were dry. She looked down at her watch and then up into the sky. “Ugh,” She grunted. “It’s nearly 2:00,” she announced rather sombrely, and then she burst into tears.  
Paul flinched, he had no clue what to do. Melissa hated being touched by anyone who was infected but his natural instinct was to put his arm around her in a gesture of comfort.  
“Melissa?” He asked.  
“I’m fine,” she sobbed.  
“Do you want a hug?”  
“Please don’t touch me,” she told him. “What time is it?” She asked.  
“1:47,” he told her. “Do you want me to keep you updated?”  
“Yes please.”  
They sat on the park bench together as she cried. He read out the minutes to her as they ticked by and she nodded gratefully each time. Melissa was younger than Paul and Emma, she was more fragile and confused about things, she barely had a clue how to react to the apotheosis and the shock it clearly been eating away at her mental health. She had picked up odd habits she hadn’t had before, like checking the office doors were always locked and keeping an almost obsessive eye on the time. She had almost stopped talking all together outside of her work routine and wore noise cancelling headphones just about everywhere.  
But these coping methods worked for Melissa and that was all that mattered.  
“Hey!” Someone called out.  
Paul looked up, instinctively shifting closer to Melissa.  
“Em?” He tilted his head.  
She was standing on the other side of the park and was making her way over. “What’re you guys doing here?”  
“Getting fresh air. You?”  
Emma spat and rolled her eyes. “If I have to spend another day on this island I’d prefer not to spent it trapped up in Beanies. I told them I was out on a delivery.”  
“Are you feeling any better?”  
Emma nodded, curling a loose strand of hair around her finger. “I’ve cooled off a bit. Those PEIP guys better hope they don’t run into me in the mean time though. It’s sort of an ineffective quarantine when you lock the healthy ones up with the infected.”  
There was no room on the bench left so she sat down on Paul’s lap.  
“Yeah, but infected or not you clearly can’t keep your hands off me,” Paul gave a sarcastic and quiet laugh, not wanting to alert Melissa.  
“Hey, are you okay?” Emma tapped Melissa lightly on the back once she noticed she was crying.  
Melissa nodded. “Yeah, I’m fine,” she said even though she was crying.  
“Is this because I was yelling in the car?” Emma bit her lip.  
Melissa continued to bawl, unable to speak coherently at this point.  
“She’s frightened.”  
Emma looked up at Paul, preparing to ask another question when she was interrupted by the secretary.  
Melissa heaved and groaned before straightening her back and wiping her eyes dry. “It’s 2:01, time to stop crying,” she told the both of them. She reached to hold onto Emma’s hand like a child to its mother. “Are you still mad?” She asked.  
Emma shook her head. “I’m not mad with you, I never was.” She raised one eyebrow. “Is it my fault you’re crying?”  
Melissa nodded but shrugged at the same time.  
“No, Melissa, I wasn’t ever yelling at you, I was yelling at those PEIP guys who keep lying to us, it’s just like you said. I shouldn’t gotten my hopes up.” Emma got off Paul’s lap and looked out to the coastline. “Once we get out of here I’m taking the both of you to Guatemala. You’ll like it.”  
“She’s serious,” Paul told Melissa. “She’s been making me learn Spanish.”  
Emma laughed, looking back at Paul. “Yeah but he sucks ass at it so far,” she winked at him. “We’ve got a while to go.”  
Melissa sniffled but eased up noticeably. “I’m sorry they won’t let us off just yet.”  
“That’s not your fault, Mel. We can gang up on the PEIP guys next time they test us, yeah?” She teased. “It’s another day in Hatchetfield, sure. But it’s like you said Paul, I just have to take it one day at a time. At least as long as I’m stuck here I get to stay with you two.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Something super super quick because I’ve been so busy!! Sfhsbhsh sorry abt how low quality it is ahah


	4. Cheers

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Emma knows PEIP isn’t letting them off the island. No one else seems to be able to figure that out.

“Cheers!” Cried out the chorus of ecstatic and only slightly drunk voices.  
Shiny, thrice-filled champaign glasses raised into the air, clinking up against their partners like music.  
It was a joyful poem in action, a memory everyone was going to look back on fondly when things got hard again. For now they had something to celebrate and they were going to run their happiness dry.   
Tipsy couples shuffled and danced about the floor with new-found confidence.  
Today nothing could go wrong for them.  
But it could go awfully for me.   
Bill’s blood came back clean for the first time. Completely ridden of infection, happy to enjoy the life he was supposed to with his daughter and his friends. He could move on from this point forwards pretending nothing had happened. He required no more weekly hour-long tests and tonight people were happy for him. They all really thought this was the pinnacle of hope for them but I knew better.   
I pretended I was happy for him too, I raised my glass, filled to the brim, and downed it in seconds.   
“To Bill!” Mr. Davidson nodded towards his employee and everyone roared out, clapping him on the back and shaking his hand excitedly.  
Everyone was happy for him and it came from a truly honesty place. If there was hope for Bill there was hope for them all.   
The party was edging into its fifth hour and everyone still cheered just as loud the first time as they did now as if they couldn’t get enough of Bill.   
This was their underdog story, their light of hope, their success.   
I was done playing kind. I was done pretending this meant things were better.   
My bloods been clean since day zero and that’s meant nothing for me.   
My heart thudded against my rib cage. In a week or so the realisation would set in for everyone else. This changes nothing.  
I poured another glass to block out the thought. “To Bill!” I announced to no one in particular, my hand shaking as I raised it.   
The people who heard me applauded again.   
“How many’s this?” Paul asked, coming to stand over me. He placed his hand on my shoulder. “Maybe a little too much?” He gently tried to take the glass from my hand but I wasn’t letting him have it.   
“It’s a party, nerd.” It was the perfectly constructed sentence. One so in character for me that politely read ‘Mind your own business’ as much as it said ‘nothing’s wrong.’   
“I know but you’re just a bit of a light weight. Maybe this is too much,” he smiled nervously. “Come dance with me.” He put his hands on either side of my shoulders and swayed me slowly involuntarily from side to side to demonstrate just how drunk I was.  
I took a sip of my fifth drink after balancing myself, keeping a teasing eye contact with Paul over the rim of my glass.  
“I’m 30, I can drink all I like coward.”   
“Hah, coward?” Paul echoed. “You’re drunk, Emma.”  
“Maybe,” I pulled away from him into the crowd where he couldn’t follow me, stumbling on my footing.   
Blurred shapes swirled around the floor, entwined with one another in a dance to music she couldn’t hear.   
So many of these people were drinking in celebration but I was drinking to fucking forget.   
Things were blurry and unclear after five glasses and I couldn’t stand up straight on my own but for some reason my head was as clear as day. Five fucking glasses and I couldn’t drown my woes. This champaign was weak as hell.   
I tangled myself in with the crowd to assure no one I knew could get to me. I don’t know if I could handle looking someone in the eyes.   
“Emma!” That was Bill, he stopped me.  
“Bill!” I patted him on the back once I found him. My face straining to smile when all I wanted to do was grimace. “Such good news!” I grinned, raising my glass to his bashful smile.   
“Thank you so much Emma,” he put a hand gently over mine.  
People need to stop touching me tonight. I took my hand back and with a parting grin made my way back to the drinks.   
Jesus christ. People don’t get it. Bill looked so happy. Clean blood doesn’t mean anything to PEIP. They aren’t letting us off the island.   
I busied my fingers with pouring another drink, a much harder task when you’re five glasses down than when you’re sober.   
All my life I’ve had people on my back. My parents, my co workers, now stupid fucking PEIP.   
Guatemala is the only time I’ve felt free. It’s the only time I haven’t had to worry about this fake as shit happiness I’m putting on tonight, not to mention when you’re a thousand miles away where no one knows your name you don’t have to bother with friendships or connections, you’re free. You’re really truly free.   
I feel like a rat in a fucking trap.   
As if I need to come to these stupid parties.  
“Emma, really?”   
Paul was still at the drinks table.   
I smiled at him but I thought he could tell I was pissed off. “What!” I toss my hands out, wine spilling over the side of my glass and splashing down on my shoe. “Get fucking drunk man, be happy! It’s a party!”  
“There’s not a single sober person in the room Em.”   
“Exactly, I’m drinking to win. You’ll hold my hair out of my face if I have to vomit right?”   
Paul chuckled. “Of course, but I’m hoping I don’t have to.”   
“That’s what I like to hear,” I shoved my cup into his hands a little too forcefully.   
“I want to tell you Emma,” he took my hand, swinging it anxiously in his. I couldn’t help but focus on this, it was throwing me off balance. I leaned into him, resting against his chest so I wouldn’t fall. At least then I wouldn’t have to see his smile.  
“I know it’s been rough for you, being Quarantined up on the island and all.”  
Well here comes my favourite fucking topic. I pulled back from him, staring up at him and letting the wine do the smiling for me.   
“And I’m just so proud of you that you’re coping all right you know? You were taking it so rough a while back but you just seem happier and you can tell.”  
“Oh you can tell, can you?” I snorted. He must’ve been drunker than me. I was miserable. My mouth felt bitter, I needed to wash it down. I reached out for my glass back but he finished it off for me.   
“You aren’t going to remember a thing in the morning, you’re swaying.”   
But that was where he was wrong. I wish I wasn’t going to remember it but my head had never been so clear. Why can’t I forget? Why can’t I just fucking forget? Can’t I be happy for just one second?  
“Em? You still with us?” He tapped my shoulder.   
“Yeah, I’ll forget but I’m sure I’ll be just as happy to hear Bill’s news for the first time again,” I was lying through my teeth. I didn’t know what to say to get Paul off my back.   
“We can talk if you need, babe.” He looked concerned. I’d tipped him off some how.   
“Huh?” I just played dumb.   
“It’s a difficult time for you Emma. I know. Do you wanna go somewhere quiet and talk about it?”   
A voice behind my head commanded me to cry. It tugged at the back of my eyes and made them water. I wanted to tell Pail what was wrong but that wasn’t going to happen tonight. “Nothing’s even wrong!” I patted his chest and turned my back to go back to the crowd.   
The moment Paul left the table I turned back around. As if taking my cup was going to stop me. The second he left the table I took the bottle.   
I swung the door open and slammed it behind me, wandering off into the labyrinth of CCRP. I didn’t recognise a thing, I was completely smashed. Perfect.   
My feet drove me instinctively to Paul’s office and I didn’t fight it.   
“Clean blood means jack shit,” I took a swig of the bottle, grunting. “We’re celebrating for nothing. They aren’t ever letting us out of here.”   
I begged for ever a little bit of brain fog or the slightest distraction. It was like my brain had dug its teeth into that thought and was fighting to hold on. My thoughts weren’t the slightest bit drunken, I could do quantum physics right now if I knew how.   
My stomach turned over as I continued walking and my bones tensed up until they were too stiff to move.   
I frantically finished off the bottle, drinking it so fast that half of it ended up going down my shirt than my throat.   
Fuck this. Fuck this. Fuck this.   
I raised the bottle above my head like a bat but my bones stiffened up at the last second before I can smash it.   
“Jesus fucking christ!” I called out.   
No one answered.  
Then, as if the world it self was mocking me the distant thud of music started playing from the party venue. The real hyped up full blast speaker shit.   
Pain shot through my heart.   
This was some sort of Hive ‘well the survivors aren’t here right now so fuck them,’ movement.   
My feet took me faster to Paul’s office and I couldn’t breath by the time I got there. 

‘Hey? Where are you? Are you okay?’   
Paul had texted me. 

‘I’m all good :) music just a bit scary down in ur office’

Now at least he would leave me alone. I collapsed down in his office chair, curling up my legs underneath my chin. I can’t keep up this smile. I just can’t breathe, I need to get off this island.   
I took a sip of the empty bottle, pleading with it for any last drop.   
I just want to forget.   
“Clean blood means shit to CCRP. The Hive will always be the Hive to them and to me.”   
I just had to forget.   
“I’m going to die in Hatchetfield.” I’ve been a ‘nobody’ my whole life. I preferred living in my sisters shadow. I don’t need all these eyes on me making sure I’m not fucking it up. I’m a screw up, no matter what anyone says. I was going to die in a town that hated me because nothing means anything to PEIP.   
There was a knock at the office door.   
“Hey Emma?” Paul’s voice.   
“What’s up?” My voice comes out smoothly, perfectly scripted. Almost like I’m completely sober and entirely happy.   
“Let me know if you need anything, right?” He stayed on the other side of the door. Thank god. I didn’t want to put on another smile or try to hide the depressed wine stain on my shirt.   
“I will.”   
“Bill was going to do a speech, do you wanna come hear?”   
That was a knife straight through my heart. That speech was going to tear Bill apart in a weeks time when he realised nothing he had to be happy about was true.   
“I might pass on this one I think, I’ll be down here.”   
“That’s alright. I love you Emma.”   
“Love you too, Paul.”   
I listened to his footsteps return up the stairs.  
I just need to forget.  
“Life fucking sucks.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Oog was this a vent fic who knows I wish I could’ve written this better.


	5. Worth it

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Emma convinces Paul not to feel so guilty about the Quarantine situation

Paul booted a small rock across the pavement as he trudged home from the park.   
He was feeling antsy about getting home to Emma, he was afraid she was mad again.   
Everyone had developed some sort of coping mechanism, healthy or unhealthy after the apotheosis and unfortunately his partner had developed an incredibly short temper when it came to the topic of the island.   
He wasn’t ever afraid of her and her tantrums, it was more the idea that she was in pain and he couldn’t help her that kept him strung up.   
The front door to their home creaked open and he snuck inside, listening for any warning signs.   
Immediately he heard pacing footsteps traveling up and down the hallway. They stopped as he shut the door behind him.   
“Hi Emma,” he greeted shyly. “Sorry I’m late, I was just out at the park. I’ve got a lot in my head.”   
Emma had a scrunched up paper ball in her hands that she was squeezing viciously. “Hi Paul!” Her face lit up the second she saw him. “Are you doing okay?” She raised one eyebrow and squeezed the paper ball in her hand like a clamp, her nails tearing into it and her fist crumpling it further. She pulled it out of her hand, examined it and binned it before wiping her hands clean of the deed.   
“Yeah, you know,” he scratched the back of his neck nervously, turning away and shuffling towards the kitchen. She was probably furious under the mask right now, she didn’t need to hear his problems. “Long day at work,” he ended up telling her. “Tuesdays are always the worst days for me.”   
“Yeah I know, I’ve heard you say some pretty bad stuff about Tuesdays, was that asshole in again?” Her shoulders fell from their tensed position to a more relaxed one and she followed him loyally behind, her neck craning to gauge his emotion.   
“Oh yeah, he wanted new printer ink for this out of brand model.” The customer hadn’t actually been as frustrating as he was making it out to be. “He lost his mind when we told him we didn’t stock it.”  
“You’re kidding me! What a loser, I hate people like that. Like it’s not even your fault, Paul.” She put her hand on his shoulder and it caught him off guard.  
“But yes it is!” He quickly shot back.  
Emma blinked, drawing her hand back. “But y’know it’s his fault for not getting a new printer. Isn’t that the third time he’s asked you guys?” She didn’t reach out to him again but was looking at him with a sort of adoringly longing look.   
“Well I suppose we call him an asshole for a reason,” Paul covered. He opened up the fridge to hide his face from Emma’s prying gaze.  
Emma stood on her tip toes to lean over the fridge. “Paul?”   
“What’s up Emma?” He inspected the milk. “Ah, maybe I should go out and get more bread.”   
“We’ve got enough bread.”   
Paul closed the fridge and moved to the sink, placing his hands on either side of it for balance. “What should we have for dinner?”   
Emma followed him over, tucking herself under his arm and looping her arms around his. “Paul,” she tugged at his sleeve, wanting his attention. “D’you wanna just watch a movie? It looks like we’ve both had a long day.”  
Paul turned to look in the mirror and laughed a little. They both looked like hell. There were bags under his eyes as dark as coal and Emma looked like she had been tugging angrily at her hair all day.   
Despite this, they fit quite nicely with each other with their arms tangled up. “Uh, sure. Why not? We’ll order in.” He brushed his hair back out of his face. “You choose.”   
“No, you.”   
“No, you’d better. I don’t want to choose something you don’t like, you’d get mad at me.”   
Emma whined, spinning around to look at him. “I don’t get mad at you, Paul.” She pulled at his tie to help herself up onto her tip toes to kiss his lips. “Your voice sounds rough,” she noted, dropping back down onto her heels and popping up his collar to loosen his tie and slip it off his head.  
“C’mon Emma,” he put his collar back down. “Not now.”   
“You look tired,” she pushed him back onto the couch. “Just lie down and shut your eyes for a bit? I’ll order dinner.” She sat down on his chest.   
“Do you have to sit there?” He asked, daring to open one eye.   
“I like feeling you breath.” She pulled her phone out of her pocket. “So deal with it for a bit,” she winked as she put her phone to her ear.   
Paul steadied his breathing. Emma was in a good mood it seemed, that was the biggest relief of the night. He listened to her talk, unsure of what she actually ordered in the end.   
She put her phone away and squeezed onto the spot on the couch next to him. “I had the worst day at work, I’ve been waiting all day to tell you about it.” She entwined her fingers with his.   
Heavy guilt filled his stomach. “Yeah?”   
Emma sighed, tucking her head into his chest. “Paul, you’re distracted. What’s wrong?”   
“I’m just tired, I guess. I’m sorry, maybe we should-“   
“Tell me what’s wrong,” she hushed him, sitting up. Her expression changed from a playful one to a more concerned one. “I can see that you’re not happy!”   
Paul rubbed his tired eyes. “No, I’m fine, I’m just sleepy Em.”   
“You can tell me to stop prying or you can talk about it with me, I’m not taking that ‘sleepy’ bullshit. You look like you’ve been run over.”   
Paul snickered. “That bad, huh?”   
Emma stuck out her tongue. “You can’t pester me to talk about my feelings all the time and then never talk about yours. We’re in this together, man!”   
Paul rolled onto his side, taking her hand and laughing shamefully. “Uh,” he looked up at her to make sure she wasn’t mad. “You know I never wanted to leave Hatchetfield, don’t you?”   
Emma’s expression hardened at the mention but she nodded.   
He gulped. This was exactly what he was afraid of. “I understand that you want to leave the second we get the all clear.”   
She nodded harder. “You’ll come with me right?” She cut in.   
“I’d go with you anywhere Em,” he confirmed quickly. “It’s just that I can tell how freaked out you are about being Quarantined up in here for the time being.”   
“I’m not freaking out!” Emma denied.   
He rubbed circles with his thumbs onto her hands, holding them tighter in a way that said ‘we aren’t arguing about this right now.’   
“Continue,” Emma sighed, knowing she wasn’t winning that fight.   
“And I get scared when I come home and I see you’ve had a rough day. It’s like, I really want you to be really happy but I think that,” he paused to check his words carefully.   
Emma was burning holes into his forehead with her gaze.   
“It’s like, you always tell me I’m having infection episodes and that I sing in my sleep and talk in rhymes and that it scares you. You just must be so stressed-“  
“Listen, I’m under so much pressure my body is crystallising as we speak but that doesn’t mean you aren’t!” Her eye twitched and she drifted up from the couch to the kitchen table. “You are allowed to have feelings, babe!” She tore a page out of the notebook on the table and balled it up in her hands.   
Perfect, now she was mad. He absolutely wasn’t allowed to have feelings.   
“I don’t know Emma, I feel like I’m causing you too much stress,” he sat up, clenching his hands anxiously, watching for her reaction.   
Emma spun around. She tossed her paper ball to the floor and tore out another page with a violent rip. She took that page and shredded it with her nails. “Fucking huh?” Her whole face had turned red. Her eye was twitching again. She stomped across the room, tearing up the sheets of paper and leaving a trail across the living room.   
“Uh, see!” Paul flinched. “You’re mad! You shouldn’t have to be this mad, I’m really not worth the trouble Emma, I’m sorry.”   
Emma raised one finger to point at him accusingly. “Those are some bold fucking words for someone in hugging range.”   
“What?”   
“Not worth it? As if!” She closed the distance by launching herself into his chest in a bone breaking hug. “Do you not even know that you’re the only thing that ever keeps me calm? Huh?” She tightened the hug until Paul grunted.   
“Oh- ouch!”   
“Only! Did you hear me?”   
“I did! I did!”  
“Repeat it to me!” Emma was small but by no means weak. “Say it!”   
Paul tried to pry her off him, laughing more out of fear than relief. “Only!”  
“The whole sentence!” She wrapped her legs around his back.   
“I’m the only one who can calm you down!” He fought for breath in her vice grip.   
“I love you so much and you are the beacon of joy in my life! Don’t go saying that shit ever again or I swear to god I’ll kill you myself you fucking dumb dumb.” She held on for a second longer before loosening her hold.  
“Jeez,” Paul rubbed his back. “That’s what a mouse feels like before being constricted to death by a snake, I’m almost sure.”  
“Apologise to me and you for saying you weren’t worth it.”   
Paul hung his head, his face red. “Hah, I think I’ll have to fight with my inner demons a bit longer before I can say that.”   
“Or you could just wrestle me,” she told him quite nonchalantly, flexing her muscles. “I’m willing to fight you to prove that ‘I’m not worth it’ is a lie.”   
Paul blushed, letting Emma sink back into his chest in a less vicious hug.   
She reached up to kiss him on the cheek. “Paul, you are what makes everything worth it!”


	6. I need you

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Paul talks with Emma in her sleep

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> How I manage to do this almost daily is beyond me after like 2 months but I am doing it purely for peer approval lmao 
> 
> On another note not to plug but my tumblr is softandpastellesbian and my ig is blossom.ruruka if anyone wants to chat!! I’d really love to talk to some of you guys you’re all so nice and talented <3

Paul held Emma close to his chest, he was fairly sure she had cried herself to sleep. He had come home and found her in bed already, her hair astray and her face red.   
He was going to help her through this, make Hatchetfield feel more like a home than a prison, and if she couldn’t change her mind then without hesitation he would help her escape.   
“Em, it’ll be okay in the end,” he whispered as he curled around the small girl protectively, drawing shapes on her cool skin with his fingertips. “We’ll both be okay.”   
Emma shivered in his grasp, a short,   
half-feigned whimper escaping her in her sleep.   
“No, sweetheart,” he held her tighter to his chest, putting one leg over hers and his arms around her stomach to shield her completely. “It’s just me, you don’t have to worry.” He wasn’t sure what sort of nightmares she was having. He played gently with her hair with his free hand, murmuring her praise for her constant bravery and for coping so long with her struggles.   
He was thinking about going down to the makeshift PEIP headquarters tomorrow and attempting to bother an answer out of them if it gave Emma any peace of mind.   
Emma rolled over, tucking her head into the crook of his neck with a wince. She panicked for a second longer before breathing in his scent and calming down with a sigh.   
“Better?” He asked, nursing her head. “You’re safe, I promise.”   
Emma giggled at something, breathing easier now.   
“Is that funny, huh?” He asked the sleeping girl.   
She sneered.   
Even in her sleep she could bully him for being too romantic. He snorted and rolled his eyes. “Whatever,” he grinned, resting his head above of hers, they fit perfectly with each other.   
She laughed sleepily at something again, her breath warm on his neck.   
“You’re better now,” he told her, beginning to drift off himself. “Goodnight, Em.”   
Then, without warning Emma decided to roll over, curling her bad leg up directly into his stomach.   
He grunted, shocked back to complete consciousness. He held his hands to his stomach defensively. “Emma!” He huffed, waiting for his winded breath to return to him. “Wow!”  
She was laughing so hard it was almost impossible for her to still be asleep but she had managed it somehow.   
“You kneed me,” he exhaled loudly, his eyes wide.   
“Yeah,” Emma mumbled, rolling back into his chest, her arms finding their way around him. “I need you,” she repeated drowsily.  
“Need? No, I said kneed!” Paul tried to tell her. “Like, you just punched me in the gut.” He instinctively put his arms around her as well, entwining their bodies.   
“Hah,” Emma laughed again, still very much asleep. “Yeah, I need you,” she purred.   
“Oh unfair,” he carried on their conversation regardless. “You’re allowed to be romantic but I’m not.”   
“It’s ‘cus you’re a nerd,” she answered to nothing much in particular.   
“Ugh,” Paul laughed in defeat. “Yeah, okay. I’m a nerd, you’re the best.”  
“You fucking bet I am.”  
“Whatever you want to call it,” he paused for a second, smiling affectionately as he looked at her. “I love you anyways.”   
Emma opened her eyes, shaking her head sleepily. “Oh!” She murmured, looking up at him. “Well I love you too Paul,” she yawned.   
“Oh! You’re awake.”  
“Yeah,” she freed one of her hands from their hug to rub her eyes. “What time is it? I accidentally crashed, fell asleep way to early.”  
“It’s about three in the morning,” he looked up at the clock.   
“Having trouble sleeping?”  
“Well I was, but I’m pretty tired now,” he answered, closing his eyes.   
“Perfect, me too,” Emma chuckled, giving him a quick peck on the lips. “I’m tired and sad so I have no emotional barriers right now so don’t you dare mention this in the morning but you mean the whole ass world to me and I need you, got it?”   
Paul nodded, laughing too quietly for her to hear. “Got it, you need me.” He kissed her forehead. She didn’t know the half of it.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Oh!! I thought I would mention this story doesn’t really have so much a plot as it does a reoccurring theme so ideas are very much welcome <3


	7. Radio

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Paul helps Emma calm down after hearing a song on the radio

“Hey Em!” Paul called out as he opened the front door. “I’m home!” It had been an especially good day for him, he had woke up feeling happy and that mood had carried him through the day. Bill had payed for his lunch and Charlotte had brought everyone coffee. Even Melissa had a few more words than usual to say and Ted had been somewhat tolerable to be around.   
He hung up his coat on the hook and slipped off his shoes onto the mat with a satisfied smile. It had been a good day of hard work.   
Em?” He called out again, but his only response was from the radio, mumbling somewhere in the kitchen.   
An uneasy feeling stirred in his stomach. The radio was never supposed to be on, especially not when Emma was home.   
He moved with more urgency, trying to make out the radio’s words.   
A jolt of pain spread up Paul’s leg as he banged his toe into something. He let out a frustrated hiss of pain, looking down to find the culprit.   
A chair lay on its side in the living room.   
He bit his lip, leaning over to set it back on its feet. “Emma? Where are you?”   
Below the false-cheery voices of the radio hosts he could hear a rhythmic dripping followed by a breathless grunt.   
As he entered the kitchen he found more chairs knocked over and strewn about the room. The uneasy feeling had ballooned in his stomach, filling his bones and veins with heavy dread.   
“Emma!” He called out again.   
His first thought was that it had just been a particularly bad day for her, she must have gotten particularly angry. That thought was ruled out though as he scanned the floor and checked the bin, as prone to anger as she was these days she was very good with her coping mechanisms: balling up or tearing paper to shreds, on her worse days she would buy glasses and plates just to smash them but there was no evidence of any of this, it was like a hurricane had passed through their kitchen.   
The radio hosts spoke anyways as Paul waded through the mess in the kitchen, the borderline paralysing fear in his heart unbeknownst to the permanently cheery spokespeople.  
‘-and with the weather for the rest of the week out of the way we’ll continue with our top hot 100 count down, now we’re at number 37 I believe, is that right?  
‘Yeah, this was released in 2004 but it’s actually been a favourite of mine for a very long time and I’m sure a lot of you will agree, it’s remained in the top 100 on the charts since it came out! And that’s a real feat you know.  
‘Alright let’s hear it!’   
Paul crossed through the kitchen to the radio to turn it off before any music could play but he was stopped as something slammed into his stomach, catching him by surprise.  
“Oofh,” he looked down to see the heavy cookbook that had been thrown at him and back up to see Emma on the other side of the kitchen. “Oh holy shit, Emma, are you okay?”   
The radio begun the first few notes of its song.  
Her nose was bleeding heavily, crimson dropped down her chin onto the kitchen floor. She wiped her nose with the back of her wrist, smearing blood across her cheek. Her stance was crooked like she had been struck on her bad leg. There was a wild rage in her eyes but below that, a deep fear.   
She looked at Paul and screamed.   
Paul flinched, stepping back.  
She clamped her hands to her ears as the music grew louder. “You’re dead!” She told him. “You’re dead! You’re dead! You blew up the meteor and you died!”   
“I’m not-“ he was cut off as Emma launched herself at him.   
He caught her before she could reach him. Holding her back by the shoulders.   
Her eyes were dark and unclear, there was no recognition or thought going on, her body was working to maintain survival and nothing else.   
“Uh! Emma! What’re you doing?” He didn’t push hard but pinned her up to the wall to stop her swinging her fists.   
“You’re one of them! Don’t play dumb!”   
“One of them? Emma, I think you’re hysteric right now, can you breathe? Can you calm down?” He couldn’t bare looking into her eyes.   
Her only reply was to scream at him some more.   
“Can you hold still? I’m going to turn the radio off. Okay?” It was hard to speak over her screaming.   
He stepped away and made his way to the radio swiftly before she could pounce again. He reached up to the top shelf and pressed the off button.   
As if it flicked a switch in Emma too she almost immediately stopped crying.  
“Ugh, ugh, shit,” she panted, wiping the blood from her nose again. She shook her head, closing her wet eyes. “Paul?” She groaned, reaching out for him. “Ahh, total wipeout.”   
He moved cautiously back through the mess over to her side, slipping his arms under hers and helping her limp towards the living room couch.   
“What just happened?”   
“I don’t know, I don’t remember.” Emma held out her palm under her nose to catch the blood. “Urgh,” she let her nose drip for a moment before searching through her pockets for tissues. “I feel like I’ve been hit by a train.” Blood pooled in her hand.  
“Did you do all of this?” He tilted his head towards the kitchen.   
“I guess.” Emma stopped to think. “I just remember the radio being turned on, there was music and-“ she shuddered. “Shit, I dunno.”   
“You looked completely different. Absolutely feral.”   
Emma snorted, sending an unpleasant splatter of nose blood onto her knees. “I don’t know, I just remember hearing music and thinking ‘oh shit, they’re here I’ve got to do something about it.’ And-“ she took a short pause to hold her breath, stifling tears. “I think I just must’ve lost it for a second, it was just such a shock that I-“ she flinched in her seat. “Sorry for knocking everything over in the kitchen,” she apologised sheepishly. “I could hear the music but I didn’t know where it was coming from, I just had to find it.”   
“Radio,” Paul answered. “It was up on the top shelf.”   
“No wonder I couldn’t find it,” she rubbed the back of her neck. “I wasn’t thinking about it in the moment.”   
“Are you hurt?”   
“A little, not really. Just tired now that the adrenaline’s gone. I’ve just got this shitty nosebleed.” She took the tissue away from her nose to see if it was still bleeding. “I must’ve crashed into a few things. I think I was throwing shit thinking I could get the music to stop, I probably just hit myself in the head.”   
“Yeah,” Paul wandered over to the kitchen, setting the chairs back up right and restoring the room to its order. “It’s alright though, your health is more important.” He picked up the cookbook she had hurled at him and returned it to the shelf. “I’m sorry about the radio, I don’t know why it turned on.” He picked it up and returned to the living room.   
Emma instinctively shied away from it, raising her shoulders up around her neck.   
“Don’t worry.” He took out the batteries. “No more music from this thing.”   
“Where are you going?”   
“To the bin. It’s clearly not doing us any favours.”   
Emma smiled guiltily. “Uh, you don’t have to do that Paul. I know you still like listening to the radio sometimes. It just caught me off guard. I won’t do that again.”  
Paul shook his head. “I’m not taking risks with it.” He dumped it into the bin. “I’m going to get you some of those headphones Melissa has,” he promised her.   
“Oh, you don’t-“   
He stopped her. Returning to the couch and brushing her hair back behind her ears and wiping the blood stain off her cheekbone. He looked deep into her brown eyes so she knew he was telling her the truth: “And I’m going to get you off this island too.”


	8. Getting better

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Ted has a major soft point for Charlotte

“Morning Char,” Ted stopped in the hallway as Charlotte slunk down the corridor towards him.   
“Oh, good morning Ted,” she rubbed her eyes. “Ready for work?”   
“You look rough,” Ted commented, taking a sip of his coffee. “Bad sleep?”  
Charlotte instinctively reached to wipe her eyes again. “I was up early,” she yawned. “I haven’t been feeling very well recently, oh well, it’s not much trouble. I just couldn’t get back to sleep.” She kneaded her stomach with the heel of her hand for a second as if to soothe a pain. “I was going to get up early anyways.”   
“Maybe you should get that checked out, have you been to a doctor?”   
Charlotte nodded and then shrugged. “Last week but they said it would go away.”   
“Go to a doctor again, Char. A week is pretty long,” he leant against the wall. “Yeah? What is it, like nausea or?”  
Charlotte nodded. “I’ll go but it’s not really...” she trailed off and clutched her hand around her stomach, the colour draining from her face. “Sorry, excuse me.” She side stepped around him and hurried off towards the bathrooms.  
The second she was gone Melissa bustled down the hallways, pointing at him with one finger.   
“Morning Melissa,” he straightened up again, finishing off his coffee.   
She tapped her watch furiously. “It’s 9:15!” She informed him. “You have to be at your desk now, Mr. Davidson is going to come for one of his office chats soon!”  
“Oh, sorry Melissa,” he stretched out his hands, sighing. “Yeah, I’m off now.”   
Melissa escorted him back to his desk like some sort of hall monitor before huffing. “You have to be on schedule!” She snapped before slipping on her headphones and returning to her desk.   
Ted spun around in his desk chair once the secretary had cleared off. He glanced at the bathroom doors as Charlotte exited.   
She had a strikingly pale countenance. She eyed the workroom floor for Mr. Davidson before turning on her heels, wiping her lips and racing out the door. 

———————————————————

‘Hey Char, u left work early???’ 

‘Sorry, I forgot to tell someone. I’m just not feeling very well. I’m doing much better now though! Reading a good book with a cat on my lap, perfect way to spend a day :)!’ 

‘I’m gonna come over’

‘I appreciate it but maybe you shouldn’t, I wouldn’t want to risk getting you sick.’

‘I don’t think it’s a bug?? If it’s been a week maybe u have like a stomach issue. Did u throw up this morning?’ 

‘No it was nothing Ted. I don’t want to talk about it.’ 

‘Coming over now.’ 

‘Don’t.’ 

Ted sighed, deciding to call her instead. He waited for her to pick up, pressing his phone up to his ear with a grunt. “Charlotte?”  
“Yes, Ted?” She answered somewhat submissively.   
“I just got off work. I’m going to take you to the doctors, get ready, okay?”   
There was silence on the other end. “I have to tell you something Ted. I’m really not well.”   
“What do you mean?” He wedged his phone between his ear and his shoulder as he started up his car, headed in the direction of Charlotte’s house. “Is it serious? You told me the doctors said it wasn’t anything bad.”   
Charlotte gave a confused sigh. “I don’t know Ted, I’m hoping it’ll go away but I don’t know.”   
“Well are we going to the doctors or what?”   
More silence.   
“Charlotte, I’m nearly there. Just hold on okay?” He hung up before she could argue, parked quickly and stormed inside.   
Charlotte looked wearier than she had in the morning. Her hair was out of its bun and her sweater was rolled up around her elbows.   
“Ted I told you not to come,” she tried to argue but was starting to look faint.   
“Sit down, you look like you’re about to drop dead.” He reached out to her forehead to feel her temperature but she flinched back.  
“I really-“ she paused and doubled over.   
“Char?!” He jumped to her side. Phone ready in hand to call an ambulance.   
“Urgh,” She grunted and straightened herself out, racing to the sink and throwing up.   
Ted pulled her hair back out of her face, exhaling loudly. “Okay Char,” he started. “I know you’re busy throwing up right now but we are going to the hospital the second you’re done.”   
More hacking and coughing.   
“Feeling better?” He rubbed her back as he waited for her to finish. “Go sit down, I’ll take care of this.” He let her brown hair tumble back down over her back.  
Charlotte wiped her mouth off on her sleeve, leaving a small trail of spit on her skin. “Ted,” she begun breathlessly.   
Ted raised one eyebrow and followed her eyes down towards the sink.   
It was covered in that neon blue slime.   
“Uh,” Ted froze, staring at it. His brain couldn’t piece together where it had come from.   
“Ted, I’m getting worse.” Charlotte sounded more guilty that she did surprised or sickly.   
“Uhh,” Ted turned on the tap, washing it down the drain. “Alright. Can you move?” He took her doubled-over posture and clenched hands to mean ‘not without extreme pain’ and gave a sharp nod. “Uh, look, okay Charlotte here’s what we’re doing. You lie down. You call me if there’s any problem. I have to go immediately.”   
“Go where?” She asked.   
“I-“ he wasn’t functioning well enough to answer. “Just stay here and don’t move!” 

———————————————————

 

“Ah Jesus Christ well just what the hell do you mean there’s nothing you can do?” Ted snapped. “There’s clearly something fucking wrong here and you’re just ‘hoping for the best?’ Crossing your fucking fingers or some shit? Come on!”   
General Schauffer remained stoic and unfazed by his outburst. “Well this is the first case we’ve had.” She placed a clipboard down on the table. “We understand that this is a very stressful situation for everyone but PEIP is working just as hard to-.”   
Ted ran his hands through his hair, frustrated. “You can’t spare one of your white lab coat guys to look at her for just a moment? God knows they must be so busy sticking needles into people and staring at screens all day.” He pushed the clipboard back across the table.   
Schauffer sighed and returned the clipboard to its place amongst a pile of other papers.   
“She’s been throwing up blue shit all morning and you’re not worried about that?”  
“Well,” she pulled open a heavy cabinet draw full of thick folders and scanned through them, slapping a manila folder down on the table. “Charlotte’s blood isn’t the cleanest on the island,” she pulled out a sheet of paper and ran her eyes over it. “It only means her body isn’t accepting the infection anymore. It means there’s less infected cells in her body than new, healthy cells. No one in Hatchetfield had ever experienced this sort of infection before. No one has any memory cells in their lymphatic system, even if the meteor is gone the body still has to remove and fight off the foreign antigens. Do you understand? It’s just her body fighting the infection.” She skimmed through some more papers with a heavy, tired sigh. “She was infected within hours of the disease spreading, there was more time for it to incubate in her body, this is a good sign. I’m almost certain.”   
Ted felt his chest loosen and his breathing become easier. “She’s what?”   
“Well in layman’s terms ‘better out than in,’ right?”  
Ted let out a breath he didn’t know he was holding. “She’s getting better?”   
“I’ll book her in for a full test at our earliest availability to confirm it but you can almost count on it.” She gave him a wink and a satisfied smile that very plainly read ‘this conversation is over. Get out of my office.’ But Ted was too relieved to notice.   
“Thank you, colonel!” He grinned at her before hurrying out of her office and down the PEIP corridor and back towards his car. He fumbled with his car keys before collapsing in the front seat, fighting his phone out of his pocket.  
“Charlotte! Charlotte!” He had called into the phone before she had even answered.   
“Where did you go, Ted?” She asked again, sounding tired on the other end.   
“I went to talk to the colonel about it!”   
“And did you find out anything?”  
He felt happy tears forming in his eyes. “Char, you aren’t getting worse, you’re getting better.”


	9. Science

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Hidgens and Paul have been working on a very meaningfuk gift for Emma

“Emma! Emma! Come with me!” Hidgens burst into the library, shocking all of the studying students out of their trances.   
Emma’s face went red as Hidgens raced excitedly to her table.   
Everyone in the library looked over the edges of their books and their laptops in a not-so-subtle attempt to eves drop.   
“Yeah, Hidgens?” Emma whispered, reminding Hidgens to keep his voice down.   
“Come with me! Quickly!”   
“Woah, okay, sure!” Emma wasn’t sure what he was so happy about but she packed up her pencil case and her laptop and followed him out of the library.  
He had an arm full of papers that he was fumbling with to keep together but it did little to ruin his good mood. “I’ve made such a discovery,” he grinned, urging her to move faster.   
She could barely keep up with his long strides. “Well that’s good!”   
“You’re going to love this Emma, absolutely love it!” He swung open the door to the lab with vigour and lead her over to his workspace.   
He dumped his papers down and spread them out across the bench. “Remarkable! I’ve figured it all out,” he pulled out a graph. “I’ve been studying the brain, Emma dear, very, very closely.”  
“Yeah I know,” he had been keeping her up late at night with strange text messages and requests for help in the lab. “I compared the brain of someone exposed to the infection,” he gave a brief, awkward pause. “Myself and Paul primarily, but I do intend to increase my sample size! I have a whole island of test subjects! And I compared these scans to the brain of someone with no exposure to the disease,” he gestured with both of his hands to her and she nodded along.   
“Yeah, I was wondering why you’ve been hanging out with Paul so much recently! Who do you expect me to hang out with when you guys are off having all the fun?”   
Hidgens shook his head. “Stay on track, Emma!”   
She scratched the back of her neck and sighed at his enthusiasm. “Lucky you that PEIP lets you use all of their fancy billionaire equipment.”   
Her professor could barely contain his joy and he thrust two graphs into Emma’s hands. “Tell me what you see Emma!”   
“Uhh...” Emma stared at the papers for a second, they were practically indifferent. “I dunno, in this one-“   
“Exactly!” He beamed before she could even finish. “Can’t you see? The Amygdala is slightly shrunken here,” he pointed to the graph labelled ‘infection.’   
“Oh, and?” Emma was a Biology student: she knew about neurone and amyloid plaques and signal cell transduction. She was not a Psychology student. Whatever occurred in the brain was a mystery to her.   
“Well, the Amygdala is involved with recognising fear and encoding emotional fear response memories and the shrinkage that’s occurring after the infection means-“ his mouth couldn’t keep up with his thoughts. He bunched up his papers and threw them up over his head. “It means everything! Emma!” He put his hands around her shoulders as the papers came drifting down. “You always tell me that Paul struggles to recognising fear when it comes to songs, and you played a vital role in this study when you confirmed that us infected don’t remember the fear we must’ve felt during the spread of the infection but for you it’s clear as day!”   
“Can parts of the brain shrink like that?” Emma figured she would ask instead.   
Hidgens turned to her and blinked, confused. “Emma, aren’t you as excited about this as I am?”   
“Oh I am! I just don’t know what you’ll do with this information.” She leant down to collect the papers off the floor.   
“Well,” Hidgens gave a frustrated smile, Emma was clearly missing something. “Well here’s what!” He knelt down but it wasn’t to help her collect papers, it was only to stare her head on to insure her attention couldn’t be diverted anywhere else. “I’ll give the information to Schauffer. That’ll help them all find a proper cure won’t it?”   
Emma’s grip on the papers loosened and her jaw dropped. “Oh!”   
“Yes, exactly! ‘Oh!’”  
“Oh! Oh! Oh my god!” She shot to her feet, slapping the papers down on the table. “And they’ll-!?”   
“Yes! It’s progress towards further study and towards a cure! And that means-“  
“I can get off the island!” She had to say it herself to believe it. “Holy shit, Hidgens!” She flung herself at him in a powerful hug.   
“I’m happy for you, dear.” He hugged her back and they stayed like that for a slightly too long period of time.   
“Thank you Hidgens, thank you! I have to tell Paul! He’ll be really excited to hear!”   
Hidgens smirked with a little all-knowing laugh. “That’s lovely dear, you go tell him. I’ll finish up here.” He patted her on the back as she skipped out of the room, pulling her phone out of her pocket and finally sharing the same enthusiasm as her professor.   
Paul answered on the second ring.   
“Paul!” She almost shouted into the phone as she power-walked down the corridor out into the carpark.   
“You sound excited. What’s up? I’m just getting dinner started.”   
“Oh my god! D’you know all that study Hidgens has been doing recently right? With the brain and everything?”  
“Do you heard the news?”   
“Huh?”   
Paul laughed. “That he’s cracked the code. He told you right? That he’s made this great progress towards a cure.”   
Emma gaped. “You knew?”  
“Well he only collated his findings this morning. I found out but he wanted to tell you himself.” Paul sounded rather pleased with himself. “I knew the general idea though I guess, I was his ‘primary test subject’ or something. A bit of a guinea pig.”   
“And you didn’t tell me?” She was more shocked than mad.   
“Well, surprise! I wanted it to be sort of a gift to you, it’s almost the anniversary of our first real meeting, do you remember?”   
“Yeah but that’s not what we’re talking about!” She could feel a stupid smile breaking out on her face.   
“Why else would I willingly submit to one of his crazy tests? Do you think getting CAT scans three times a week is fun? No! You think I was getting Gadolinium injected into my veins for the kicks, babe?”  
Emma snorted, taking the phone away from her ear so Paul couldn’t hear her. “Well I mean some people inject shit into their veins for the kicks. Are you addicted to Gadolinium now?”  
“God no, that shit’s awful, you can taste it in the back of your mouth and it’s all cold in your veins. I’m glad Hidgens got his research done. Aren’t you happy?”   
“Well obviously! I’m pretty over the fucking moon here!”   
“I’m glad. I know it’s not a ticket out of here but it’s a step in the right direction and y’know,” he hummed like he was thinking. “I did it for you of course, we both know you’re a bit trapped here so I wanted to make you feel a little bit better. I wanted to give Hidgens a hand so that you knew we were making some progress.”  
Emma blushed and tossed her head to the side, embarrassed and flattered. “Well it really does help Paul. Like, I was pissed about it this morning but that seems so far away now.”   
“Listen Em, even if PEIP couldn’t give two shits about our mental health but,” he treaded lightly around the topic but Emma couldn’t care less about it anymore. Paul cleared his throat before continuing.  
“You can always know that that’s like, all Hidgens and I care about.”


	10. Footsteps

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Schauffer talks with a few of Hatchetfield’s citizens about their concerns

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Wasn’t going to write much abt Schauffer but I was looking at her the other day and went wow I love her boots so I wrote a whole chapter about her 
> 
> also not to cling onto Amelia like she’s my own character but I love her

Colonel Schauffer had been training for her rank from a very young age. She had devoted a fair chunk of her earlier years to her training the second she had finished school. That was not to say she hadn’t had her fair share of retail work, and running the Quarantine at Hatchetfield reminded her of those days very much.  
She was training in heavy warfare and combat but not as much the talking part of the job.  
Every day at 10 PEIP’s makeshift office doors opened up for the general public for questions, concerns and free testing.   
She walked down the long corridor to her office, her footsteps tired and bothered.  
By now knew everyone by name and could recognise them just by the sound of their footsteps storming up the staircase to her office.   
Her first visitor came the second the doors opened, moving so fast she didn’t have time to recognise their footsteps but she knew that enthusiasm could only belong to one person.   
“Good morning, Professor,” she greeted him without looking up from her work. “The lab doesn’t open until 12, you know that.”   
“No!” Hidgens practically squealed. “I no longer need the lab, I’ve finished my study!”   
Schauffer blinked and put her pen down, lifting her head up with a surprised grin. “Well! That’s just lovely. May I see?”   
Hidgens all too excitedly shoved his papers down onto her desk, mixing them up with the ones she was already working on.   
“Do you see?” He asked.   
She scanned them for a moment. “Well the Amygdala has shrunken considerably. And the Cerebellum is looking noticeably bigger.”   
Hidgens’ jaw dropped. “The cerebellum? Good god! How could I have missed that?!” He gathered his papers in his hands like a father collecting his baby. “You’re right!” He patted down his pockets.   
“Pen?” She handed it to him, knowing he would’ve been too excited to remember one.   
He let out a thankful noise and scrawled down some notes at the bottom of the sheet. “The Cerebellum stores procedural implicit memories,” he begun.   
“I know, Professor.”   
“Oh,” he looked up. “My apologies. Usually I’m explaining it to a student of mine and she doesn’t understand the brain.”   
It was cute to know that Hidgens thought he was one of her only visitors. She knew without a second thought he was referring to Emma Perkins. She crossed her arms and let the man ramble for a second. She had heard the girl talk about the professor and vice versa, quickly linking the two together. They had a relatively close relationship she had noticed and seemed to mention each other often.   
“This suggests that there’s procedural memories being stored there, I don’t find it too bold to say that’s where the Hivemind stored their choreography. If you were to look closer at that area I’m sure you could very easily cause a programmed cell death to kill off certain nerves, that would remove the infection from that area of the brain.”   
“Thank you Hidgens,” she dipped her head. “I’ll take those off you now and send them off for further confirmation. You’ve done a very good deed.”   
He let go of his papers rather easily, looking very pleased with himself. “And you can use those to look into a proper cure, correct?”   
“Affirmative.”  
A massive grin overtook the old man’s face and he barely knew what to do with himself. He patted down his pockets, this time presumably looking for his phone. “Lovely, wonderful! Thank you for your time. I have to go-“ he cut himself off as he rushed out the door. She could quite easily figure it out though. ‘go tell Emma!’ He was doing it for her mostly, that’s why Paul Matthews always tagged along even though his expression and dropped shoulders always insisted he hated it.   
She smiled, Hatchetfield was becoming very close knit. Although she supposed that was because of the enforced quarantine. She worked at tidying up her table and separating Hidgens’ stack of papers from her own before digging back into her pile of papers to sign off.   
Another letter from the head of PEIP, She grunted and felt her heart sink. Another ‘what’s taking so long?’ Just what she needed. It shouldn’t be up to everyone else to decide just how hard she was working.   
Around half past ten there was another set of footsteps. Anxiously light but evenly paced.   
“Bill! How’s the clean blood going my friend?” She put on her cheery persona as he walked in, gesturing him over enthusiastically to a spare seat. “So! What can I do for you, buddy?” She straightened her back and leant in to convey her interest in his query.   
“I’ve been very well recently, yes, thank you Colonel,” he started with a unsure smile. “I just wanted to book in an appointment for a full test.”   
“Oh?” She pushed back in her office chair and rolled it back slightly to her filing cabinet, her fingers searching for Alice’s file.   
“It’s for Alice though, not me,” he quickly corrected himself.   
She pulled out his daughter’s folder. “Are you having any concerns?” She frowned.   
As Bill stammered she pulled out the girl’s sheet as if she didn’t know all the information off by heart.   
“She’s been rhyming every so often and humming, and she’s been going out an awful lot lately! I mean, being Quarantined here with her is honestly the best thing that could’ve happened for me.”  
“Your ex-wife mustn’t be as happy though I guess,” she laughed to show she understood. Bills visits weren’t so much visits as they were counselling for the poor man. “Bill,” she put one hand on top of his. “I don’t think Alice needs a full test.” She gave him his daughters sheet. “She’s a teenager. Teenager’s brains are still developing, they have a natural love for patterns, if she’s humming I’m almost sure it’s just a new song she’s heard on the radio. And if she’s going out -as much as you don’t want to hear it- she is just with Deb. I know you don’t like Deb but she is a lovely young lady. She takes care of Alice just like you. You’re just worried about her, as all good parents should be that is.”   
Bill looked at Alice’s sheet, speechless.  
‘Blood tested at 81% clear.’   
“I know you’re worried but I’m sure it’s nothing. If you think she needs to be tested bring her in for a walk-in, but Alice doesn’t like full tests you know. They bring her down. You’re only young once and Alice doesn’t need her youth ruined anymore than it has been with everything that’s been going on.” She gave him a deep, meaningful nod.   
Bill gave a defeated chuckle. “We aren’t getting any younger are we?”   
“That’s the spirit,” she patted his hand and packed up Alice’s folder but his eyes lingered on her information for as long as they could. “I’ll send you a photo copy, Bill.” She winked at him. “You don’t have to worry about Alice at all. Anything else I can do for you?”   
“Ah, just one thing,” he scratched his neck, embarrassed. “Any news on the Starlight theatre? As in, rebuilding it?”   
Schauffer laughed, genuinely. “Well Hatchetfield has always loved a good play! You can take Hatchetfield away from the theatre but you can’t take the theatre out of Hatchetfield, huh?” She laughed. “Not for a while yet bud but I’ll make sure it’s on the list. You have a good day now, Bill.” She waved him out.   
The second the door closed she dropped her head into her hands. “Ugh.” She rubbed her eyes with the heel of her hand, fighting back a yawn.   
Getting PEIP off her back was much more exhausting than any sort of combat she had done. She opened her emails just for another dozen ‘what’s taking so long?’ Emails that she had purposely been putting off.   
She opened up her spreadsheet only to find a disappointing number staring back at her.   
‘Average blood sample is 68% clear’  
That just wasn’t good enough. She had to get that number higher but there was no way to rush it.   
She stared at that number as if willing it to change before deciding to put off replying to her emails for another day.   
Next Tuesday was mandatory testing day, if all went well she could get that number up another percent or two.   
A light patter fell down on the roof as it started to rain.   
An angry set of footsteps hurried down the hallway and she clapped her laptop shut.   
They were light yet fast in a way that said ‘you better not ignore me! I’m here!’   
“Amelia, lovely to see you again.” She looked up with weary eyes. This was the third time the girl had visited. She still had her clipboard and her bright ‘Greenpeace’ vest on under her raincoat.   
“Colonel, I have a problem.”   
“Oh, do you?” That wasn’t surprising. But somehow, even on her billionth visit since the office first opened she still had the same sense of urgency.   
“I’ve been finding that a lot of people are forgetting the big picture.”   
“Ah, this again? Well Amelia I’ve told you that there’s not much we can do. We don’t want to cause panic when we already have such a stressful situation to deal with.”   
“But people should be afraid!” She promptly cut her off with a tone that had plenty of practice with fighting to fit in a word. “A lot of citizens think they’ve survived the unbeatable and they’re forgetting the planet is still in danger. Don’t you think it’d be a shame for us to make it past the apocalypse just for global warming to wipe us out in ten years time?”   
Schauffer massaged her temple with her thumbs. She did like Amelia’s enthusiasm but she was in charge of rescuing Hatchetfield, not the world.  
“Amelia, come take a seat real quick.”   
Amelia slipped off her raincoat and took a seat.   
“Between you and me, I know exactly what you mean. I’m working my ass off to get Hatchetfield back on its feet and no one wants to give me a hand here but I have to do it anyways. Do you understand?”  
Amelia nodded.   
“There are people just like you outside of Hatchetfield fighting for the planet,” ‘but there’s only one me,’ is what she wanted to say but she refrained. “And with the bridge raised and the ferry’s stopped Hatchetfield is doing a very good job at minimising exhaust fumes, and I think you’ll be grateful to hear that the professor has finished his research with our equipment.”  
“Oh thank god!” Amelia clapped once. “That stuff uses so much power, it’s awful for the planet.”   
Schauffer nodded. “Now, it’s raining outside so you better just take a break for today. I don’t want you standing out there in a storm okay? I’ll send out a memo for you though.”  
Amelia jumped to her feet and slipped on her rain coat. “I’ll keep that in mind, colonel. Thank you for talking with me. I’ll see you again soon!”   
Schauffer let out a loud sigh. Somehow, it was only midday. The office was open for another 3 hours.   
She rose from her chair and paced around her office, staring out the window down at the streets. The rain was turning the streets muddy. A car bolted down the road, spraying puddle water up onto the concrete.   
A thought slipped into her head. Surely it wouldn’t be too bad to lie about the blood? To round it up to 70% instead? No. That wasn’t an honourable thought.   
She paced back to her desk and sat down. She had no control over her data, blood to infection ratio’s cleared on their own.   
On one hand there were citizens like Bill who were completely clean, but at the same time there were people like Charlotte who were only just reaching the half way mark.   
A thought struck her. She was meant to send Charlotte a letter about the side-effects of the infection starving off. She would need it just about now.  
She returned to her laptop, evading opening the emails from HQ in favour of emailing about seven other people.   
A new set of footsteps in the hallway: they were clumsy with uncertainty but heavy with purpose. Her footsteps wouldn’t have always been like that she hoped.   
“Melissa,” she opened up her office door for the girl and she invited herself in, sitting down in the chair across from Schauffer’s with her hands on her lap.   
“How could I forget? It’s 1:30 on a Friday, I should’ve been expecting you.”   
Melissa was a prime example of the mental health issues plaguing Hatchetfield. The girl had been scared out of talking and interacting with her dear fellow citizens.   
“What can I do for you, dear?” She really quite liked the confused young girl. She cared for her deeply.   
Melissa’s eyes scanned Schauffer’s office looking for any abnormalities. “I have a list,” she pulled a folded sheet of paper from her pocket and slipped off her headphones. “This is from the office. It’s problems from everyone who hasn’t been to visit recently. I collected them all so you could know.”  
Schauffer scanned the sheet as Melissa stared at her watch.   
“Well you can let Mr. Davidson and Ted know those are taken care of. Tell Charlotte I’ve emailed her and just tell everyone else I’m working on it.”   
Melissa nodded, committed it to memory and folded her sheet back up in her pocket. “My headphones are starting to break,” she informed her. “I will have to have new ones, please.”  
“I’ll get that taken care of immediately. I’ll have them sent to you tonight. Is there anything else you need? You seem stressed.”   
Melissa looked up from her watch. “Oh! Only a bit.”   
“Well I’ll let Emma and Danny know not to come in for testing this weekend, you can all take a break. Is that okay?”  
Melissa looked sick for a second. “But that’s what’s on the plan?”   
“Well I’ve changed it. Is that alright with you?” She spoke quietly.   
Melissa nodded. “If that’s what you say then that is fine. No testing, I’ll take it off my calendar.” She rose and brushed out the creases in her blazer. “It’s raining very hard, isn’t it? I don’t like the bad weather.”  
Schauffer nodded. It helped her sleep easier at night when Melissa spoke more confidently.   
“I really like Spring, it’s the flowers and...” a sort of natural timer inside her informed her she had said enough words and she trailed off. “I have to be back at the office by 2:10, so I better go.”   
“Alright Melissa, travel carefully.”   
“By the way!” She gasped. “Your clock is two minutes late!” She pointed out before walking out abruptly.   
Schauffer nodded goodbye and made a note to change the time on the clock for Melissa. As much as she wanted Melissa to speak to a counsellor the girl had refused. She didn’t have that sort of trust anymore. Schauffer had taken it upon herself to ensure Melissa’s state wasn’t ever worsening.   
Her last visitors came half an hour before her office closed.   
She could barely hear their footsteps over the pelting of the rain but she recognised them so well her brain could fill them in.   
It was the heavier yet submissive footsteps from Paul and the somehow faster, lighter and somehow snappier footsteps from Emma following closely behind him.   
“Hello, you two,” she greeted as the entered. “I see you got your headphones alright,” she said to Emma but Emma showed no response until she gestured to her.   
Emma blinked and shook her head into concentration mode. She squinted as if that would make it easier to hear before slipping off her headphones. “Oh! Yeah, I got them alright.”   
They didn’t look as normal on her as they did on Melissa.  
“So what can I do for you?”   
“Well I’m sorry to be asking this question yet again but is there any sort of date yet? For when we can get out of here?” Paul asked, letting Emma sit down in the only free chair.   
“No bad questions Paul, that’s why my door is always open. How’s that leg treating you, Emma?” She dodged the question, moving to the window to watch the rain and letting Paul take her chair.   
Emma’s face screwed up and she slipped off her headphones again. “My leg? Yeah it’s okay. Hurts like a bitch today though.”   
“I’ll have the doctors send you some more medicine for it.”  
“About the date?” Paul asked again.   
Schauffer exhaled deeply. She liked Paul but she didn’t need anyone else on her case about release dates. “Paul, can I talk to Emma in private for a moment?” She knew this was about her.   
Paul stood up, nodding but with hesitance as he left the office.   
“Emma, dear, headphones off.”  
Emma took them off and hung them around her neck, watching the Colonel move about the room restlessly.   
Paul was the one who ordered those for Emma, not the girl herself.   
“Those aren’t doing you any favours. Those aren’t going to work for everyone. They work for Melissa because she’s in denial. She’s not ready to face her fear but you are. You’re always looking over your shoulder, you’ll feel much safer being able to hear.”   
“Wow,” Emma drummed out an anxious rhythm on her knees. “I didn’t come here to be psychoanalysed but thanks.”   
“Emma, I know you’re tense about being trapped on the island and you have to know I’m not keeping you here on purpose to spite you.”   
Emma bit her lip. “Thank you. But do you have a date or not?”   
Schauffer cleared her throat and pulled up her laptop. “I can only release people once we reach a 90% clear blood rate. Have a look.” She logged into her laptop and positioned it so they could both see.   
The laptop immediately opened up on her emails and she rushed to click out of that tab, minimising it away to reveal her spread sheet.   
She eyed Emma for any sign of what she saw.   
“68% isn’t very high,” Emma said to fill in the silence.   
Schauffer let Emma scan the spreadsheet as she marched across to the window. She could tell from Emma’s tone that she had been able to read the emails before she could close the tab.   
There were about a dozen ‘requesting progress report’ subject lines from PEIP demanding to know why Hatchetfield was still under supervision.   
“Let me know when you’re done with that spreadsheet, Emma.” She stared out into the rain.   
“Can I write some of this down?” She asked.   
Schauffer blinked. “What parts? Do you have paper?” She crosses the room, reaching for her notepad.   
“Nah it’s good! I’ve got a bunch of paper.” She reached into her pockets and pulled out a crumbled ball of paper.   
Schauffer handed her a pen and moved to her filing cabinet, pretending to organise them.   
Paul had told her about Emma’s paper ball habit. Schauffer had been the one to suggest buying notebooks to leave around the house to help her manage her anger.   
Schauffer understood Emma’s trapped feeling. She wanted to leave the island pretty badly herself no matter how well she had come to know everyone.   
“I know you’re stressed. I can’t offer you an exact date but I can tell you it’s clearing up a lot faster. There’s more people with clean blood than with infected blood and-“   
“Colonel Schauffer,” Emma interrupted. “It’s okay if you can’t give me an exact date,” Emma balled up the paper once she had finished writing on it, throwing it back and forth between her hands. “You aren’t magic, you can’t just find the answer.” Her tone of voice suggested how badly she desired an answer but that she no longer blamed it on Schauffer.   
As much as Emma’s frustration being directed elsewhere would be a weight off of her shoulders it only confirmed that she had in fact seen PEIP hounding her about dates themselves when she opened up her laptop.   
“Emma, well,” she wasn’t quite sure where to go. She had never been good with words. “If that’s all, I’ll see you out. I’m about to close up the office for the day. You got in just in time.”   
“Thanks, colonel.” She walked Emma out into the corridor back to Paul. “Sorry if I was bugging you.”  
“It’s nothing. My office is always open.”  
“Ready to go?” Paul asked.   
Emma nodded, fiddling with her headphones around her neck but not putting them on.   
“Thanks Schauffer,” Paul shook her hand even though he had no clue what had transpired between the two women. “See you another time.” He put his arm around Emma’s shoulders to guide her out.  
“Good bye you two, I’ll send that medicine for your leg over as soon as possible. Stay out of the rain, have a good evening.”   
There was a final exchange of goodbye’s before Schauffer turned around, walking back down the hallway to her office.   
She listened to her own footsteps.   
They were still weary and concerned as they had been that morning, but with the first hints of purpose and strength returning to them that they had once had.


	11. Coffee

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Emma and Hidgens deal with a bad customer

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Damn can u tell how much I hate my job in real life

Coffee, coffee, coffee and more coffee.   
The Starbucks down the street was no longer enough for the citizens of Hatchetfield and business had started flowing into Beanies more and more everyday.   
“Well it’s just like what my study says,” Hidgens slurped up his second coffee of the day, drinking as if he couldn’t get enough. “The Amygdala plays a role in sleep, that’s why no one who was infected can get to sleep anymore,” he tried to explain in between sips. “How much?” He asked.  
“It’s on the house, Hidgens.”  
“Well as tired as I am it’s been great to stay up for a few extra hours to continue my study. Schauffer told me some brilliant things about the brain I should be looking into.”   
“Hey, are you done yet?” Someone behind the Professor in line snapped. “We’re all waiting.”   
“Zoey, can you cover me for a sec?” She called her co worker over.  
Zoey’s apron was tied messily around her neck and her blouse wasn’t tucked into her shirt properly. She didn’t have the time to snap at Emma and dug straight into taking customer orders.   
Emma slid out from behind the counter to see her professor. “So did you have time to see Schauffer yesterday? Did she think your study could help?”  
He nodded confidently. “Of course, but there’s still so much left to find out. I’m thinking of doing some more scans. It’s really fascinating.” He yawned and rubbed his eyes. “But maybe I’ll try to get some sleep tonight instead. I haven’t done that in about,” he raised his wrist and pulled back his sleeve. “I forgot my watch.”   
“Two or three days?” Emma suggested.   
“Something like that.” He took a large sip of his coffee. “But lucky for us we don’t feel head tired. If I was lying down with my eyes closed I probably couldn’t even tell I was tired, it’s only when I’m walking about that I can feel how tired I am.”   
Emma whined and tugged at her professors sleeve. “You shouldn’t try pushing those limits. You should stop studying for a day.”   
“But Emma, dear,” he shook off another yawn. “What about getting you off the island?”   
“Ahh,” Emma rubbed her arms. “I think I should lay of Schauffer for a bit. I suppose she can’t help speed up the date.” She reached into her pockets, pulling out a ball of crumpled up paper and unravelling it. “There was like some ‘clean blood’ to ‘infected blood’ count and it was at like 68% yesterday. Like, I didn’t know we were waiting on something, I’ve got no clue what’s going on up at PEIP headquarters or any of that stuff.” She handed her piece of paper to Hidgens and fiddled with a strand of hair that had fallen loose from her hair tie.   
Hidgens folded it up neatly and put it in his pocket. “You look tired.”   
“Yeah, uh, it’s really hectic here. Even Zoey’s looking bad.”  
Hidgens patted her once on the back. “Alright dear, I’ll let you get back to it. Don’t push it all on your co workers you’ve got coffee to make.”   
“Working on it, thanks professor.” She gave him a quick hug goodbye before dashing off to the counter again, weaving in and out of angry, short tempered customers.   
“Hey, you,” someone called her name.   
She stopped in her tracks, ducking out of the herd of customers to locate her caller.   
“Yeah, in the white shirt,” they called again.   
She found the man calling her loitering by the door with a coffee in his hand.   
Emma felt her head reel. If he had already bought something it could only mean bad news. She put on her customer service face and approached the man, raising up on the tips of her toes to match the man’s height to assure him she wasn’t in the mood to be bossed around.   
“You made my coffee wrong.”   
“Oh, sorry sir, what happened?”   
“I wanted a black coffee, this is a hot chocolate.”   
Emma shook her head, stifling a yawn. “Sorry, we got you the wrong drink?”   
He rolled his eyes. “Yes, that’s what I’m saying.”  
“Would you like me to make you another?”  
He grunted and eyed the line. “No, it’s fine.”  
Emma blinked. “Oh, well sorry about that sir.” She moved to turn around but he grabbed her shoulder.   
Instantly her heart sped up. She had had her share of rude customers but it was never okay for them to touch her. She took another step before turning around to put some distance between them.  
“Yes, but I paid for a black coffee.”  
Emma could feel a headache coming on. There was no polite way to say ‘and?’ So she stared at him blankly as she tried to phrase her words.   
“You made it wrong but I still had to pay for it.”   
“Sir I-“ she didn’t know if he wanted a new one or to be recompensed or apologised to. She shifted to the side to let someone out the front door. “I can give you a refund if you want.”   
He looked at the line again.   
Holy shit, she didn’t want to deal with this right now. She glanced at Zoey who was frantically scribbling down names on cups, her hair tangled and messy.   
“Can’t you just-?!” He let out a frustrated noise.   
Emma stretched out her bad leg, she wasn’t supposed to be standing for so long. “Sir,” she began helplessly. “Do you want your money back or do you want a new drink?”   
He groaned and finished off his hot chocolate, dropping the cup on the floor. It left a puddle of milk on the floor.   
Emma watched the cup drop and her hands snuck down to her apron pocket for her scrunched up paper ball but she came back empty handed. A ice cold feeling shot up her veins.   
Someone nudged her aside to get out the door, accidentally elbowing her.  
She caught her breath and exhaled angrily through her teeth.   
“Look, I’m sorry about the mistake sir. We’ve been very busy and we’re short staffed-“  
“Even I could make a better drink than that shit!”  
“Okay!?” Emma huffed. “So then what did you come here for?” She snapped, her temper sneaking up on her. “Can you just spit it out already? Do you want me to give you a medal or something? Sir, I can’t do anything for you if you keep on-“ Emma stopped herself, letting a hiss rise in her throat instead. She hoped the general noisy chatter of the cafe had drowned out her rant.   
“Emma?” She felt a more familiar hand on her shoulder turn her around.   
Hidgens waved a hand in front of her face to capture her attention. “Are you okay?”   
“I’m-!” She eyed the customer, a realisation was dawning on him.   
Hidgens retrieved the folded up sheet of paper from his pocket and handed it to Emma.   
She balled up the paper in her hands, digging her nails into it.   
The man grabbed her shoulder more firmly, spinning her around to face him.   
For a solid second Emma assumed he was going to punch her square in the face.   
“That is not allowed!” Hidgens growled, tearing the man’s hand off her shoulder. He stood in between the two, his chest puffed out. “I’m going to have to ask you to leave.”   
“You don’t work here!” He pointed out. “Hey,” he stepped to the side to make eye contact with Emma, who was tearing at her paper angrily. “I want to speak to your manager, get him.”   
At the sound of the word ‘manager’ Zoey yelled out a frustrated ‘I’m too busy!’ noise from the counter. She didn’t look up from the drink she was rushing to fill to get the line moving.   
“I’m her manager,” Hidgens simply answered. “And I’m asking you to leave.”   
“Well I want my money back.”   
“I don’t think you’re entitled to that any longer, sir. If you put your hand on her again I’m calling the police.”  
The man put a hand to his forehead, looking entirely pissed off. “Fuck you,” he grumbled before storming out, swinging the door so hard that the bell hanging above it flew off its hook onto the floor.   
Emma rubbed her forehead. “People get pissed when they don’t get their coffee. I think I’m enabling a mass addiction serving these guys,” She fiddled anxiously with her apron, wringing it in her hands. “Holy shit.”   
Hidgens watched the man stomp away down the street and guided Emma safely through the crowd back to the counter.   
“Take care, okay?” He asked. “Call if there’s trouble.”   
Emma returned to the table, more exhausted than before. “Sorry for leaving you hanging, Zoey.”  
“Did that ass need me?” She asked as she washed out a jug.   
“No, my friend took care of him.”   
Zoey laughed. “Thank god. We don’t have time to step away from the counter anymore, okay?” She began the next cup in line. “I think I made about twenty drinks while you were away.”   
The line moved faster with the two of them working on the orders together. Soon enough things died down to the general daily customers and Zoey was finally able to step away from the counter to the back room.   
Emma sighed and moved out from behind the counter to sit down on a free chair, resting her head on the table and groaning. One of her hands found its way to her shoulder and she could feel a small bruise forming.   
Someone rang the bell at the front of the store and Emma’s head shot up.   
Paul was standing at the counter looking over at her with a smile. “Good morning,” he laughed. “Busy day?”   
“Awful, awful morning rush,” she yawned and dragged her feet back to the counter.   
“Black coffee?” She asked.   
“Caramel latte too.”   
Emma cooed. “Oooh, is that for me?” She teased.   
“Yeah,” Paul said as he placed his money on the counter.   
“Hah, what?” She pushed his money back to him. “You don’t have to buy me coffee I can get it for free if I want. We’re so worn out I think Nora’s taken one of the coffee machines to the break room.“  
Paul snickered. “When I got home from work last night you were just crashed on the couch, completely wiped out for the day. Let me get you a coffee, Em.”   
“You don’t have to, I’m not too tired.” She busied herself with his drink.   
“I uh, I heard what happened today. Hidgens told me,” he whispered.  
Emma sighed at the memory.   
“Did he hurt you?”  
“Nah, not really. He was just crossing the line a little. But it was busy, he hadn’t gotten the coffee he so deeply craved. I can understand why he was mad.”  
“Needing coffee is no excuse to be a dick though,” Paul snorted. “I sure hope Hidgens scared him off.”   
Emma shrugged. “If he ever comes back I’ll punch his teeth in,” she promised. “I hate bad customers but that guy was getting on my nerves. Can’t wait to get away from him. Let’s move to Colorado.”   
“Colorado?”   
Emma nodded. “Schauffer gave me a five acre plot of land as part of witness protection or some shit. Remember?” She leant across the counter for a quick kiss.   
“Oh, yeah that’s right. That’s something to look forward to huh?”  
“Yeah, that and getting out of this shitty coffee shop.”  
Paul chuckled. “We’ll make a list. Starting with getting away from shitty coffee-craving customers.”  
Emma nodded, sticking out her tongue at the thought of that man. She put Paul’s finished coffee down on the counter, sliding it into his hands. “Just do me a favour and don’t get addicted to this shit.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> OOGH how am I still at it


	12. One Afternoon

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Paul has something very special for Emma

Emma put her shoes down by her bag to feel the wet sand in between her toes. The waves lapped at her feet and she stared out at the Clivesdale shore.  
The news had to come out eventually: Hatchetfield was fine, no one died. They were being quarantined off from some sort of ‘mystery infection’ that had not been revealed to the public.   
The Clivesdale shore had become some sort of dark tourism site. There were always people staring out at Hatchetfield in hopes they could catch sight of it.   
Rumours spread, they even managed to get to Hatchetfield occasionally.  
‘Incredibly contagious skin devouring disease’ or ‘disease that causes spontaneous explosion.’  
Any sort of crazy explanation to settle their wildest thoughts.   
A few of them had caught sight of Emma and there were fingers pointed and dropped jaws.   
She couldn’t hear them from this far away but she could guess what sort of things they were saying.   
Paul had asked her to meet her once they were both off work for some sort of surprise.   
As pleasant as it sounded she expected the worst.   
She crossed her arms to keep herself warm as the cool ocean breeze came in off the waves.   
People stared at her.  
She stared back. “What do you want?” She hissed, pitting up her middle finger as if they would be able to see her from that far away.   
“Bothered?” Came Paul’s from behind her and she turned around with a smile.   
“Better now.”  
“Don’t those guys suck?”  
“Yeah, I hate them.” She glared across the channel, watching more people gather to gawk at them like some sort of sideshow attraction.   
“If I heard Clivesdale was disease ridden I would stay far away.”  
“Clivesdale probably is disease ridden, everyone there is gross. Fuck Clivesdale.”   
“Fuck them!” Paul echoed with a laugh.   
“So what’s the news?” Emma asked, looking back out at Clivesdale. They didn’t know how lucky they were. They could go anywhere in the world and they chose to look at Hatchetfield? They didn’t know what they were missing.   
Paul put his hands around Emma’s waist and pulled her in. “Well I have a surprise for you,” he leant down and kissed her nose.   
“A surprise for me?” Emma cooed. “And what’d that be?”   
Paul could hardly contain his joy, he swayed her side to side in his arms. “Well, you have to know I went through hell and back for this. I know you’re gonna love it.”   
“Wow, you sound sure,” Emma let the swaying soothe her nerves. “So what is it?”  
One of Paul’s hands slipped up to take her hand and he spun her out and dipped her.   
It was a messy sort of tango, yet it was by no means threatening. In fact it was quite the opposite. It was untidy and uncoordinated, it only reinforced the idea that the Hive was well and truly gone.   
Paul had a strong, safe grip on her back, there was no way she could fall.   
“Sorry,” Paul apologised but he couldn’t help grinning. “I think I dance when I’m happy.”   
Emma snorted. “You’re keeping me on the edge of my seat here, man.”   
He pulled her back up and they returned to swaying, occasionally side stepping or twirling.   
“Well you see Clivesdale over there?” He pointed with one hand as he twirled her around.   
“Oh I see it alright, and clearly it sees us.”   
Two dozen people watched their dance closely. They had no understanding of the intricacies of their lives. They had been reduced to zoo animals in the eyes of Clivesdale. They had not a single idea what hardships they had been going through.   
Paul pulled her back into him to take her eyes off it. “Well it’s all yours,” he had this massive, wide beam on his face as if she knew what that meant.   
“You bought out Clivesdale?” She asked, laughing.   
“No, no!” As he became more excited their mock dance grew faster. “So Colonel Schauffer was about five seconds from banning me from her office,” he began.  
“You were so annoying you got kicked out of Hatchetfield?” Another premature guess, only to bother Paul who was clearly struggling with his words.   
“No! Em! Let me speak,” he hushed her playfully. “Emma, babe. Listen, okay?”   
“I’m listening!” She assured him, holding his hands tightly as he twirled her around.   
“I managed to get you three hours!”  
“Three hours what? I don’t understand Paul!” She teased.   
Some sort of inkling of an idea was growing in her head but she crushed it whenever the thought popped up. There was no conceivable way on earth it was what she thought it was.   
“Emma! I-“ he laughed loudly, too happy to be frustrated. “I spoke to Schauffer and I got you an afternoon out of Hatchetfield, in Clivesdale-“   
Paul couldn’t even finish his sentence.   
Emma screamed. “Out of Hatchetfield?” Her chest tightened and she smiled so wide her cheeks were hurting.   
Paul nodded frantically. “Do you like it?”  
“Paul!” She cried. “Oh my god!” She clasped her hands to her mouth in shock.  
“It’s just a couple of hours, three, I think. Is that alright?”  
“Paul I wouldn’t care if it was five minutes! The idea that you even went to that effort for me!” She put her hand to her heart is disbelief.   
“Well of course I would!” He let go of her so she could pace excitedly back and forth across the beach. “I’d do anything for the love of my life!”   
“How do I even thank you!?”  
“I just want you to go out there and have a good afternoon!”   
Emma nodded frantically. “Uh firstly bullshit, I’m going to get you something too, and secondly! What did Schauffer say! What did she say? When is it?”   
Paul laughed bashfully, “tomorrow afternoon. Do you like it?”   
A strangled sob escaped Emma’s mouth and she nodded. She ran back to Paul, throwing herself into his chest in a tight hug.   
Paul chuckled, holding Emma close to him.   
Now Emma needed to dance with him. It was never something she was good at nor wanted to do ever again but a burst of energy had entered her and she needed to do something with it.   
As Emma lead the rhythm of their swaying Paul took his invite, realising it was okay to dance.   
It was fast and clumsy. Step one two three, step, step, two, three, one, twirl, dive.   
It didn’t quite resemble a dance as much as it did a couple of kids throwing their bodies around to some sort of rhythm.   
Either way, if Schauffer saw she would probably shoot them both on site.   
As much as she knew that she couldn’t imagine stopping.   
Clivesdale watched on, shocked and surprised, trying to figure out what it meant.   
Surely the next rumour would be ‘disease that makes you lose control of your limbs’ based on the way Emma danced (Paul had managed to retain some level of skill). That would be the closest they had gotten.   
“I’m glad you’re happy.” Paul finished their dance, dipping her one last time and kissing her passionately.   
“I’m so fucking lucky,” Emma pushed Paul back for a second only to tell him this before leaning back into the kiss.   
All of a sudden Clivesdale didn’t seem so shitty. She wanted to yell at the bystanders that they didn’t appreciate how great their city was. No one on the planet could ever appreciate or understand how much this meant to her.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Willing to buy the silence of those who read the last chapter before I took it down lmao


	13. Clivesdale

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Schauffer takes Emma to Clivesdale

“Ready to go, Perkins?” Schauffer gave a pleased smile, taking Emma’s smooth hand in hers to help her into the small rowboat.   
Emma nodded. “Yes! I am! Come on! Let’s go!” Her voice sounded squeaky like a child and she looked too happy to sit still.  
“Don’t rock the boat, Perkins,” Schauffer warned her, but she was quite happy to see her smiling. “You know why we have to take a boat, correct?”   
“Because people aren’t supposed to know,” she grinned. “This is a secret, I know.”   
“And do you know how lucky you are?”   
Emma nodded. “Lucky to have the best boyfriend in the world? Of fucking course!”   
Schauffer snorted. “No thanks for me then?”  
“Well-“ Emma stammered, flustered. “You, of course! For letting me go, and coming with me!”   
“Well I couldn’t let you go alone.” She grabbed the oars of the paddle boat and tossed them down into the boat with a clunk and pushed off the shore with a strong heave, jumping in at the last second.  
Emma giggled excitedly as the boat swayed.  
“We can’t have you running off. I’d prefer to supervise myself. Making sure you keep protocol will be harder than office work. I’ve let a general take over for me this afternoon.”  
Emma dipped her hand into the water, exciting to be back out in nature.   
“Do you have everything?”  
“Yup,” she patted her blue backpack. “Do you have my wallet?”   
The rules were set out: Emma was allowed to take anything she wanted but she wasn’t allowed to hold her wallet.   
It was a sort of safety protocol to stop her buying a bus ticket and never returning. “I’ve got it, don’t worry.”  
“You know I would never leave Paul behind though, right?”   
Schauffer let out an unintelligible noise that Emma couldn’t decipher. She knew Emma was unpredictable but Paul was her anchor.  
“We’re going to move to Colorado once this is all over,” she explained cheerfully. “Any update on how that blood is coming along by chance?”   
“75% now. I wouldn’t say any more than four months at most,” Schauffer lied. It was really only at 72% but what she didn’t know couldn’t hurt her.  
Emma nodded, trying to seem calm but her fidgeting made it obvious how excited she was.   
“What’s the first thing you’ll do on shore?” Schauffer asked as she rowed the boat in a smooth, strong motion.   
“Ah,” Emma hadn’t thought that far ahead. She turned around in the little row boat towards the Clivesdale beach. “Go to the shops, maybe. God knows Hatchetfield has a shitty shopping department. I’ll get something for Paul to say thank you.” She spun back around, teetering the boat. “Oh my god, what do I get him?”  
Schauffer steadied the boat again. “Well not a souvenir surely. Something meaningful.” She leant forward to place a rough hand on Emma’s shoulder to stop her moving about. “Just be calm.” She rowed along in silence, listening to the waves lap up against the boat. “Now, you have to stay under my supervision this afternoon. Only three hours.”  
“I’m not going to run off on you. Even if I wanted to it’s not like I could,” she patted the bandages around her thigh lightly. “You could probably catch up to me easily.” More impatient foot tapping. Emma leant over the side of the boat to stick her hand in the water again.   
“You’ll tip it if you don’t fall off first,” Schauffer pointed out. “You can swim once we reach the shore if you’re that desperate.”  
Emma leaned back a bit, her fingertips trailing in the water. “Almost there,” she pointed at the shore.   
It reminded Schauffer quite a bit of taking a child to the zoo for the first time.   
Emma scrambled to get off the boat before they even reached the shore, splashing up to the sand to help pull the boat in.   
“Look!” Emma exclaimed, pointing up at the buildings.   
As Schauffer pulled up the boat Emma ran circles between her and the shore as if she didn’t know where to go. “You can see Hatchetfield from here!”   
“I know,” Schauffer nodded patiently. “What would you like to do first?” She asked.  
Emma exploded with over-excited shouts. “Wait, I get to pick? Are you kidding?! Holy shit, uh, I don’t know! Clivesdale is so exciting all of a sudden, right?”   
Schauffer chuckled. “Yes indeed, Perkins. Come on, let’s go.” She gave Emma a firm pat on the back and as if that was the signal Emma bolted down the beach like a dog let off a leash. She ran surprisingly fast for someone with a bad leg.   
“Perkins, not too far!” She called out.  
Emma didn’t even frown, it seemed like nothing could ruin her good mood.  
She slowed down obediently and turned to hurry back to her side.  
Emma had been picked up for her trip right off work and hadn’t had time to change out of her uniform. It was quite pretty compared to Schauffer’s black suit, she thought. They looked like polar opposites.  
“I’ve thought of what I want to do!”   
“And what’s that?”   
“I want to explore, I want to take all the little side streets all the way across town, I want to see how close to the edge of the city I can get!” She explained. She took off her shoes that were already wet from walking to shore.   
“But you know you aren’t allowed out of the city, yes?”  
“Yeah I know!” Emma nodded. “Can I run ahead?”  
“Not too far.”   
Emma took off again, running down to the water and squatting down to take up a handful of sand.   
Schauffer was fascinated, there was something almost primal about her joy. It was like a completely innocent wanderlust. Schauffer was beginning to understand why she hated the island so much. “Well there’s no difference between Clivesdale sand and Hatchetfield sand. Come on, let’s start walking.”   
Emma dropped her handful of sand back into the water and washed off her hands, hopping back up. “Yeah! Let’s go!”   
She lead the way rather aimlessly through the streets, walking even when Schauffer could tell her leg was starting to hurt.   
She wasn’t sure what Emma was trying to achieve with her pointless march through Clivesdale.   
She looked like she wanted to stop and talk to everyone as if to prove to herself that she had really made it. Unfortunately part of the deal was that Emma wasn’t allowed to talk to anybody. She had to keep a low profile.   
Fortunately, Schauffer’s broad shoulders and muscled frame was enough to ward anyone off.  
Emma didn’t want to stop for lunch the first time Schauffer asked as ‘three hours isn’t enough to stop for food!’ But Schauffer soon demanded a short stop as Emma’s leg wasn’t doing her any favours. She took her to a nearby upscale looking restaurant in hopes it would make the lunch worth it for Emma.  
“If you eat that fast you’ll get sick.” Schauffer took a small bite of her steak, shocked at how fast Emma could wolf down a meal.   
“Well it’s not like I have time to spare! We should be leaving already, come on, eat!”   
“Hah, you really were desperate to get out.”   
“No kidding! I feel like I’ve been in this tiny, shitty, little cage. You’re excited to get off the island too right?”   
Schauffer shrugged. “It’ll be nice to get back out there. I’m not too rushed I suppose,” she adjusted her collar almost anxiously.   
Emma noticed. “Something wrong?”  
Schauffer took another bite of her steak.  
“No, Perkins. I’ve just been busy. I suppose it’ll be nice once the Quarantine is over but there are some lovely people on the island.”   
Emma nodded. “Like Paul,” she told her happily. “Like, can your even believe he got me this afternoon!?”  
“Well sure,” Schauffer liked Emma’s enthusiasm. She wasn’t going to let the girl in on how much Paul had bothered her for these few, precious hours. “I just feel the job isn’t done yet. There’s a lot of people I’d feel I was abandoning if I left just because their blood was clean.”   
Emma nodded. “Oh, I get it. Like Melissa?”   
Schauffer nodded. “There are lots of people who just aren’t coping so well. That boy you test with, Danny, he’s far gone.” Schauffer sighed.   
Danny had visited her office the other day, he smelt so strongly of cigarette smoke that Schauffer had to keep the windows open for the rest of the day. “And of course, Melissa. That sweetheart, she’s a bit lost.”   
“Oh,” Emma finished off her meal and pushed her plate away. “We’re working on that. The other day she forgot her watch at home and the first morning was all panicking but by the afternoon she was doing pretty well.”   
“Oh!” Schauffer was pleasantly surprised. “Really?”   
“Well, I had to stay on the phone with her for a couple of hours but she did really well!” Emma smiled.   
“And then there’s you.”  
“Me?” Emma stopped, her smile wavering.   
Schauffer took a bite and decided she was done with her half eaten meal. “You’ve clearly been very stressed.”   
“Oh me?” Emma waved a dismissing hand. “No, I’m fine. I’m just stressed with work and school and everything.” She wiped her hands off on her shorts as if cleaning them of some crime.   
“Really?”  
Emma nodded frantically. “Well aren’t you stressed too?”  
Schauffer laughed. “Well that’s none of your concern.”  
Emma leaned in. “You are! I’ll let you pick something you want to do while we’re here if you want!”  
The colonel shook her head. “I don’t need anything, but thank you Perkins.”  
“No, really!”   
Schauffer had to think about it, but continued to shake her head. “This is your afternoon. I’m happy enough, Perkins.”   
“Well that’s sort of bullshit,” Emma didn’t know whether she could swear around the colonel or not. “Aren’t your bosses like breathing down your neck about everything?”   
“That reminds me, not even PEIP is supposed to know about today. That is between you, me, Paul, and the general covering my shift today. Got it?”  
“You seem very frightened of your boss.”  
“When you work for an organisation like PEIP that’s just how it has to be,” Schauffer admitted nonchalantly. “You have to follow the rules and I’ve twisted them a bit for you.”   
Schauffer stood up from their table, moving up to pay the bill, realising she had said too much.   
“Mother and daughter lunch?” The waitress asked, making simple conversation as she pulled up the tab on the register.   
Surprised, Schauffer shot a look back at Emma who was slipping on her backpack.   
“Oh, just a friend,” Schauffer laughed it off. “Come on, Emma,” she beckoned Emma over, the girl only reached her shoulders when they stood side by side. Schauffer paid the bill and left, feeling more stressed than before.   
“How’s that leg treating you?” Schauffer asked, changing the subject as they headed back out into the streets.   
“I’m not even paying attention to it!” Emma grinned.   
Schauffer could detect the awkward bend in her leg when she moved and could tell she was moving faster than she was comfortable with.   
“Time’s almost up, Perkins,” Schauffer reminded as she tapped her watch.   
“Oh you sound like Melissa. Can’t we just make to the edge of the city first?”   
“If you hurry, I suppose. But three hours is all you were granted,” Schauffer tutted.   
Emma grumbled sadly. “Come on, let’s move faster then.”  
“I hate to bring it up,” Schauffer began, Emma immediately winced. “I’ve been ignoring it so far but aren’t you on doctors orders to not run?”   
Emma’s eyes rolled to the side in denial. “Ohhh, you know,” she didn’t slow down. “Rules are made to be broken though, right?”  
Schauffer blinked. “I don’t think you’re saying that to the right person.”  
“I’m on Hatchetfield orders not to run, this is Clivesdale. Do the same rules even apply?” She chuckled.   
“Look. This is where central Clivesdale ends. Any further and you’re going into the suburbs. You aren’t allowed to take another step.” Schauffer could practically see the invisible line on the road.   
Emma couldn’t. She sighed longingly but with a hint of satisfaction. She reached her hand out in front of her as if to grasp at freedom and breathed in the air.   
“Is that really the end?”   
Schauffer nodded firmly. She was not going to debate this. “I’ve bent the rules plenty for you. Now you have to listen to me.” She put her arm securely around Emma’s shoulders to turn her away from the invisible line and walk her back down the road. “Tired?”   
Emma shrugged. “A little! But I’m excited. Did you see that? I nearly left Clivesdale!” The way she said it showed how wild that concept was to her now. “I feel like I could run laps around the city. I feel awake, more like, energised.”   
“Good to hear you had a nice day.” She patted Emma’s back.   
“Oofh!” Emma leant forward as if she had been struck. “Wow! You’re strong.” She rubbed her back. “Can I see your muscles?”   
“Strange question, Perkins. That’s a no.”   
“Well then I’m just going to guess that you’re ripped. Because, wow.”   
Schauffer didn’t understand the term but before she could ask Emma to explain the girl’s attention was drawn away.   
Emma cooed, “look at that dress in the window,” she pointed at a small boutique down the street. “Isn’t that a nice shade? I think that’s your colour.” She pressed her finger up against the glass for emphasis.   
“My shade?” Schauffer repeated.   
“Yeah, don’t you think you’d look nice?”  
Schauffer rubbed her neck anxiously. “Perkins we aren’t supposed to buy anything. They shouldn’t be able to trace us back here.”   
“I never said buy it,” Emma grinned mischievously. “You put those words in your own mouth.”   
Schauffer didn’t blush, but she felt like she should’ve. “Well you were implying it weren’t you?”   
“It would look really pretty on you.”   
“Perkins we have half an hour before we have to be on the boat and you’ve walked us across the whole city. We don’t have time for dresses. We’re already late.” She tapped her watch.  
“It’ll be fast!” Emma promised. “I’ll buy it for you. It’s to say thanks!”  
This time, Schauffer did blush. “Excuse me?”   
“Would you like it?”   
“You are not tricking me into giving you more time. You know you aren’t allowed to talk to anyone while we’re here.”   
“Well you better try to stop me then!” She announced with a teasing grin as she spun on her heel and marched into the shop.   
Schauffer rubbed her head. “Don’t make me regret letting you have this, Perkins!” She followed Emma inside, slapping a hand over the girl’s mouth before she could ask for an employees help. “You’re supposed to be on your best behaviour. You said you wouldn’t run off on me. Come on, time’s up. Back to the boat. You’re in trouble now.”   
Emma’s surprised squeak drew an employees attention.   
Schauffer quickly drew her hands back before the employee suspected anything.   
“Can I help you?” She asked.   
Emma pointed at the dress in the window.   
“Would you like to try it on?”   
Emma nodded.   
The employee smiled, leaning down to Emma’s height. “I’ll go get it for you.”  
“She’s shy,” Schauffer explained. “Uh, the dress is for me actually.”  
The employee tried to hide their surprise. “Oh! Sure! Just one moment.”  
When they left, Emma grimaced.   
“Did you see that? She leant down to me. She thinks I’m child. It’s because you’re like six feet tall.”   
Schauffer pinched the bridge of her nose. “You’re causing me grief, girl. We’ll have to bus back to the docks.”   
“Here you are, that should be the right size.” The same employee returned with the dress, passing it over to Schauffer. “Let me know if you need a size up or down.” She smiled politely and returned to her work.   
“Try it on!” Emma urged, leading her towards the change rooms.   
The dress presented to her was a dark green sundress. She didn’t like the way it looked on her, it was too dainty for her broad shoulders and clung to her hips oddly. It made her look bigger in an unflattering way and was a bizarre change from her regular uniform. Her days of being a youthful, elegant girl were long gone and the dress only confirmed it.   
“Fun’s over now. Ready to go?” Schauffer asked, reaching for the zip on the back of the dress.   
“You have to show me first!” Emma pleaded.   
Not Schauffer’s ideal way of spending her break but she stepped out of the change room regardless.   
“See!” Emma exclaimed upon seeing her. “It’s exactly your shade! It looks so good on you!”  
Schauffer couldn’t even form a reply.   
“You should get it. Do you know how ripped you are? It really shows off your muscles. Super flattering.”   
“I can tell you’re just trying to suck up to me. Flattery won’t work, let’s go.” Schauffer turned her back to Emma.  
“No I’m not. I think it looks really pretty on you. Didn’t you think so? Look. Can you just try on this other dress first? I think this one might suit you.”   
Schauffer took the dress Emma forced into her hands. “Not funny, Perkins.”   
Emma frowned. “I’m being serious! I think they’d both look really nice on you. Hand me that green one when you’re done. I’m going to buy it for you!” She beamed.   
Schauffer wiped her brow. “This is the last one. Since when did you become a fashion expert?” She didn’t want to humour her much longer.   
Emma rolled her eyes. “Listen, I prefer comfort over fashion but that doesn’t mean I can’t tell what looks good. Go on, get changed. Stop looking at your watch!”   
The second dress was worse than the first, it was fancy, really fancy.  
A sort of black-tie, open back dress with lace borders. The open back showed off a thick scar she had running down her back.   
She didn’t know what Emma was talking about, surely this was just a joke at her expense to stay in Clivesdale longer.  
And yet she tried on the dress.  
Once more Emma gave her this beaming, blown away smile. “You look so good in dresses!” Emma looked her up and down. “You look like you’re about to walk the red carpet.”   
“I don’t like it, Perkins.”   
“I think it makes you look famous, yet you look like you could kill a man at the same time. That scar on your back literally makes you look so cool.”   
Schauffer snorted. “Well we’ll agree to disagree.”   
“And you’re really sure you don’t want to try on another?”   
Schauffer nodded. “You’re buying time, young miss.”   
“I’m buying dresses is what, do you think this would suit me?” She pulled a hoodie off a nearby hanger. “I’m just going to try this on, then we can go okay?”   
“You’re on thin ice, Perkins.” She stood guard outside the change rooms just in case Emma was attempting to sneak off.   
“Can I help you with anything ma’am?” An employee asked.   
Schauffer shook her head. “That’s a negative, I’m just waiting for someone.”   
The girl looked down at the dresses she was holding onto. “Those are beautiful! Are you on a shopping trip?”   
“Just sidetracked. It’s a lovely shop.” She wasn’t sure how serious she was being.   
“Yeah, it’s fancy, isn’t it? It’s a bit of a hidden gem, not much business in a shop off the main road. But I like that, more dresses for me right? I love having an employees discount, it’s great.” The girl smiled. “I’ve been saving up for that dress actually,” she gestured to the sundress. “It’s really pretty. It looks like it would suit you.”  
Schauffer ran fingers over the fabric. “Thank you.”  
The employee smiled at her one last time before returning to the racks of clothing.   
Schauffer rubbed a smile off her face, watching the girl go. Her eyes followed her into the racks and landed on a simple, black skirt.  
Without her command her feet carried her towards it and she took it off the rack.  
“Like it?” Emma asked, sneaking up behind her.  
Schauffer’s gut reaction was to spin around, grabbing Emma’s wrist and pinning it behind her back.  
“Ough! Wow!” Emma grunted. “Am I in that much trouble?” She gave a forced laugh.   
“You snuck up on me,” Schauffer let go of Emma’s wrist.   
“We get it, you’re in the military. You like hand to hand combat,” Emma huffed jokingly, straightening up hesitantly. “Do you think this looks nice?” Emma asked, taking a cautious step back and showing off her hoodie.  
“It’s a bit big on you, Perkins. That’s not for you.”   
“Oh fine,” Emma sighed petulantly. “Time to go?”  
“Hm? Yes. Time to go.” She moved to return the skirt to the rack but her hands stopped. “You go pay for your dresses if you want them that badly. I’ll meet up with you.”   
That was definitely breaking protocol. She was supposed to watch Emma’s every move and yet as Emma left she returned to the change rooms to try on the skirt. She wasn’t sure why it was so compelling, maybe it was nice to just for one moment be something other than muscle. To lean into her feminine side a bit more, something she hadn’t done since she had joined PEIP.  
She twirled and the skirt flew out gracefully around her.   
She laughed louder than she should have.  
“Schauffer?” Emma knocked on the door.   
Schauffer froze, turning stiffly on her heels to open the change room door.   
“Wow!” Emma exclaimed. “Schauffer! You didn’t tell me you’re a skirt person! I would’ve chosen some skirts if I’d’ve known that!”   
Schauffer snorted. “I’m just having a little bit of fun. Did you get your things?”  
“I did! I got that dress for you too. Did you want that skirt?”   
“No, it’s-“  
“It looks so perfect on you though! We should go to a club, oh my god, you know they don’t have clubs in Hatchetfield? We should go dancing. Oh my god, can we?”   
“You’ve gone quite past your curfew.”   
“But you look like you’re having so much fun!” Emma frowned. “Nobody will know, Colonel!”   
Schauffer shook her head. “No, we’ve both had quite enough fun for one afternoon. If you’re doing this for my benefit you don’t have to worry. Yes, my boss is breathing down my neck but that doesn’t mean I don’t have fun anymore.”  
Emma’s face went red. “Uh-“  
“I can tell you’re more enthusiastic than usual. Why would you want to go to a club anyways? You get about four hours of sleep a night I don’t think you need to stay up any later.”  
Emma rubbed her cheeks bashfully. “You can read anyone like an open book.”  
“I appreciate that you’re trying to get me to have fun, surprised you think I’m a club person, but I’ve had plenty of excitement for one day. Aren’t you tired?”   
“I will be once the adrenalin wears off.”  
That wasn’t as long as Schauffer thought. They were halfway down the street when Emma wheezed and had to stop to catch her breath, complaining about a serious pain in her leg. Schauffer had to carry her to the bus.   
“This is your fault, Perkins,” Schauffer scolded as they took a seat at the back of the bus. “Your leg is going to kill you in the morning.”  
Emma yawned, too tired to open her eyes but still rather giddy. “It was worth it though. I had the best afternoon of my life.”  
“Well at least that’s good.”  
“I think Clivesdale is my favourite place on the planet. You liked it too right?”  
“Well, I’m happy you were trying to look out for me. I had a lovely afternoon Perkins.”  
When they landed on the shore back at Hatchetfield a very relieved Paul and her very angry General were waiting for her.   
“Get carried away?” Her General looked at his watch. “Three hours, Schauffer. I closed up office for you.” He tossed her the keys. “See you in the morning.”   
“Uh, thanks for doing this Schauffer,” Paul approached her to shake her hand. “Are you wearing a skirt?”   
Schauffer did not answer him. “She tired herself out. She had a wonderful afternoon.”   
“I’m really happy to hear, I’m just so thankful.” Paul leant down by the boat to haul Emma out and scoop her up into his arms.   
“I got something for you,” Emma leant into his chest with a purr. “I had the best day in my whole life,” she explained sleepily. “Look, look,” she was too tired to point. “Look at her pretty skirt.”   
Schauffer rolled her eyes. “She wanted to go shopping. She’s a bit too stubborn to stop.”   
Emma laughed. “We have to stay in bed all day tomorrow, Paul,” she yawned again. “My leg hurt so badly.”   
“What’d you do?” He gestured for Schauffer to walk with him as they headed up the beach.   
Emma mumbled something, but by then end of her sentence she was asleep.   
“Thank you for breaking the rules for her,” Paul sounded just about as happy as Emma had herself. “Did she like it?”   
“Oh she loved it. She wanted to walk around all day, I could barely get her to stop.”  
“Sounds like she had a great day,” Paul grinned. “And thanks for tiring her out for me. She should be a bit calmer for the next few days. You have no idea what a favour you’ve done for us.”  
Maybe it was not Hatchetfield that Schauffer liked as much as it was its citizens. “That’s okay, Matthews.” She looked down at Emma, fast asleep in Paul’s arms. “I suppose some rules are made to be broken.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This could’ve been executed so much better but I fell in love w schauffer and made it all abt her!!


	14. Chatty

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Emma and Paul help Melissa deal with an asshole

“Hey Melissa,” one of her coworkers rapped his knuckles on her desk to grab her attention but she didn’t notice.   
“Melissa!” He repeated, reaching across the counter to take her headphones off her head.  
She let out a shocked yelp, rolling back in her office chair to get away from her presumed attacker.   
“Hi,” the man smiled, unaware of what he had done.  
Melissa fumbled with her headphones, slipping them around her neck. “Woah,” Melissa shook her head. She didn’t appreciate that.   
The man stared, waiting for her to say something.   
Melissa felt her heart rate begin to pick up and she took a deep breath.  
“Good morning,” she greeted.   
“I have some papers for you,” he put a folder down on her desk and she rolled back to her table to examine them.   
They were some papers about the petty cash draw.   
She pointed to herself, asking silently whether she was the one who had to sign them.   
“So?” The man asked.  
Melissa bit her lip and looked back down at the papers, maybe she had misunderstood them.   
She flicked through the pages and looked back up at the man, waiting expectantly.   
“Uh,” she mumbled, clearing her throat.   
“Am I supposed to...?”   
“To sign them?”   
The man shook his head. “Oh! No, they’re for Mr. Davidson.”   
“Aahhh,” Melissa nodded. That made much more sense. She neatened the pile of papers and smiled politely at him, assuring him it was fine to leave.   
“So that’s all good?” He asked.   
She tilted her head towards her boss’s office to signal she would have to ask first but quickly figured he wasn’t as good at understanding her as Paul or Emma. “I’ll check.”  
“By the way, I was in the bathroom when you were collecting coffee orders, can I get a caffe latte? Thanks Mel,” he grinned. “You should talk more,” he threw in before leaving.  
Melissa felt her lip curl up in a sort of snarl and she slipped her headphones on.   
Maybe the Hive couldn’t understand fear anymore but that doesn’t mean they were allowed to be assholes.   
Melissa didn’t like the red, angry feeling swirling inside her stomach and her eyes searched the office floor for the man.   
She checked her watch, 10:11.   
Not only had he been rude but according to her schedule he should’ve been at his desk anyways.   
She did not like that man.   
“You should talk more,” she mocked him below her breath, sticking out her tongue in disgust. Maybe he should just deal with it.   
It takes about five seconds to figure out what she’s saying, and if he was having trouble understanding it takes even less time to just say it himself.   
She grumbled quietly, watching her watch tick towards 10:30.   
The second it hit half past, she stood up, collecting her order list and exiting the office.   
She marched down the same street she took every day but something was off.  
She fiddled with her headphones anxiously, anger clouded her head like a thick mist.  
But it all melted away when she opened up the door to Beanies and she saw Emma’s familiar smile.   
“Hi Melissa!” She stepped out from behind the counter to greet her. “You look a bit worried, what’s up?”   
Melissa looked over at the counter.   
Zoey was on the counter today too, staring off absently out the windows.   
“Her phone ran out of charge,” Emma snickered. “She’ll be at the counter too today. Is that alright?”   
Melissa nodded, handing her list to the Barista.  
Emma scanned the list. “Big order.”  
“This morning,” she begun but broke off with a sigh.   
Emma knew she wasn’t going to continue.   
“Hey Zoey, can you do this order for me? It might keep you occupied for a bit.”   
Zoey actually looked thankful for the distraction and got to work on the orders.   
“Come to the backroom with me for a sec,” Emma took her hand gently, leading her behind the counter.  
Melissa tensed up. “Not supposed to do that,” she pointed at the invisible line between the counter and the serving floor. “It’s okay, you can come. You’ve got my permission.”   
Melissa clung to Emma’s shirt as she showed her into the backroom.   
It wasn’t very big. It had a couch and table with some beat up chairs and a little pigeonhole for bags.   
Melissa wrinkled up her noise at the strong smell of coffee.   
“I haven’t seen you so tense in a while,” Emma commented.   
Melissa grunted. “Bad morning.”   
“Yeah? Want to talk about it? It’s only us, Zoey can’t hear.”  
Melissa pointed at the door.   
“I’ll make sure she doesn’t come in.”   
She moved to the corner of the room to stand with her back against the wall, not feeling comfortable enough to sit down.  
“This morning,” she began again but her lips pursed themselves shut. She didn’t want to make a big deal out of it but the more she thought about it the more the anger came right back to her, worse than before. She clenched her hands angrily.   
“Woah,” Emma blinked. “You’re pissed.”  
“This man,” she started, feeling her throat strain. She had done a lot more talking this morning than she usually does in a day.   
“Take your time.”   
“What did he order?” Emma quickly interrupted.   
“Caffe latte,” Melissa answered.   
“Give me two seconds,” Emma stood up and poked her head out the door. “Zoey, do me a favour.”  
“What’s up?”  
“You know the caffe latte? Spit in that, thanks.”   
Melissa’s eyes widened, shocked.   
“Oh we do that all the time,” Emma shrugged as if that made it any better. “Go ahead, continue.”   
Melissa wrung her hands anxiously. “This guy was talking to me at my desk,” she started, feeling her throat dry up.   
Even Emma seemed a bit surprised at the length of her sentence.   
“Uh, I didn’t see him and he like,” she gestured to her headphones while Emma nodded her on. “He just took off my headphones.”  
Emma flinched. “Really? Asshole move, are you okay?”   
Melissa shook her head frantically. “And he told me,” she cleared her throat, coughing a little. “He told me it’d be easier if I just spoke more.”   
Emma wasn’t sure whether she should be more surprised with the man’s behaviour or how much Melissa was talking.   
“Do you know his name?”  
“I mean,” Melissa whacked her forehead. “I probably did once but after everything...” her throat closed up and she swallowed, groaning involuntarily. “I’m just not remembering faces very well anymore. But it wasn’t Paul if you’re worried about that, I recognise him.”   
“Oh!” Emma shook her head. “No I wasn’t implying that, I would sure hope Paul isn’t out there doing that,” she huffed. “He’d be in real big trouble then.”  
Melissa shook her head. “Not Paul. Not Paul. He had black hair, much shorter. Had a beard and shaving cuts too I think.”  
Emma moved to sit on the couch, still nodding all the while.   
“And it’s just like,” Melissa was starting to struggle for air and all of a sudden she realised that it wasn’t because she was talking so much but because she was fighting back tears.   
Emma patted the space on the couch next to her and the second Melissa sat down she began to cry.  
It wasn’t loud or ugly, nothing more than a few, wet tears sliding down her red cheeks with a small whimper before they dried up.   
“Are you okay?” Emma asked, stroking her back.  
“How can that asshole say something like that?!” Melissa snapped, her voice full of so much feeling that had been absent from her voice for so long now.   
“Woah!” Emma fought back a smile. “Melissa!”   
“Like, that bitch was really out there singing his heart out, having the time of his life for two weeks while I was out there like, wow-“ she couldn’t even find the words. There were alarms going off in her brain telling her something was wrong, that she needed to shut her mouth and drown out that feeling but she just ignored it. “I thought I was going to die and I was at breaking point stress for two weeks while he was partying! And like, hell, he treats the Hive like some sort of FyreFestival while I was starving and dying and this guy just enters my personal space and tells me I’m wrong!?”   
“Yeah, fuckin’ get him,” Emma patted her back. “You want me to come back to the office with you and beat him up? Or at least would you like his coffee to be miraculously forgotten?”  
Melissa shook her head. “Just spit in it,” she nodded. “‘You should talk more,’ what sort of asshole move...” The well of anger was beginning to dry up. “My brain is like, fried. He has no clue how stressful it was.”   
“I can only imagine. I mean I was off in some hospital for most of it while you were out here. I mean, I did fall out of a helicopter but now I’m just fucking scared of helicopters. Not the most stressful event of the week you know? Oh,” she paused. “Sorry, I’m making it about me. Let me reset. What I’m trying to say is you clearly drew the short end of the stick like, wow. If that guy told me I shouldn’t be scared of helicopters that’d be one thing but telling you to talk more? Jesus,” Emma shook her head in disapproval.   
Melissa snorted. “Ahah,” her laughter was quiet but it was still something. “I think I’m feeling better now.” She checked her watch. “Oh! Oh!” She tapped her   
watch-face.   
“Oh, you’re late?”   
Melissa nodded, “Late!” She stood up and let Emma lead her out of the back room into the café again.   
“All done Zoey?”   
Zoey nodded, moving the finished tray onto the counter. “Good luck carrying that back, didn’t bring Paul today?”   
Melissa shook her head. “Nope. Just me.”  
“Ooh,” Zoey cooed. “Chatty today.”   
“Hah, yeah,” Emma moved over to grab a scrap of paper off the counter, scribbling down a note.  
Melissa liked Beanies. Obviously she liked Emma the best but she did enjoy Zoey. They were similar ages and Zoey was nice to her, in more of a ‘big sister’ than a ‘best friend’ way but she liked that just as much.   
Melissa balanced the trays on top of each other and grunted a goodbye.   
“Hey, can you take this note to Paul?” She tucked the scrap of paper in next to Paul’s coffee.   
Melissa nodded. “Got it.” She made sure everything was secure and headed back to CCRP to divvy out the coffee.   
She saved Paul’s coffee for last and entered the IT room silently.   
“Ah!” Paul gasped. “Oh! You scared me. I didn’t hear you come in.” His eyes darted down to check the clock on his computer.  
“Yes, I’m four minutes late,” she apologised. She set his coffee down on his desk and handed him the note.  
Paul scanned the scrap of paper with a smile before tucking it into his pocket.   
“How’re you doing, Mel?” He asked.   
Melissa shrugged. “I’m okay I guess, how’re you?”   
Charlotte looked up from her computer, Melissa’s voice shocking her out of her trance.   
“Oh!” His smile widened. “I’m doing just great, Melissa. Better now at least,” he raised his coffee in thanks.   
“I’m going back to my desk,” she announced.   
“I’ll walk you there, there’s someone I need to talk to,” he sounded like he was about to hunt someone down.   
He returned her safely to her desk, checking once more to see if she was alright.   
“You didn’t have to walk me back,” she told him. “It’s 11:16, so really you should be at your desk.”   
“Sorry, there’s just some business I have to attend to.” He waved goodbye and headed off into the office cubicles, away from his own office.  
She watched him go, her eyes following him across the floor.  
He tapped a man on the shoulder.   
The man was shorter than Paul, he had black hair and he had shaven recently. That was the man she had spoken with that morning.   
Paul was talking to him quite aggressively too, surprising for Melissa considering his usually docile personality.   
Melissa looked away, she didn’t want to see if either man was going to get worked up. She slipped on her headphones to block out their voices and looked down at her computer.  
She tapped out some notes to lure herself back into concentration and productivity   
but a sheepish smile overtook her.   
She knew quite well what that note must’ve said.   
It was good to know that even if she had to share the island with assholes like that, she still had people like Paul and Emma.


	15. Sleep well

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Emma cheers Paul on when he’s nervous to talk to his boss

“Did you have a good day yesterday?” Paul asked as he fixed his tie in the mirror.  
“Yeah,” Emma grinned sleepily, rolling over and cuddling herself around the sheets. “Yeah I really did.”  
Paul watched her fight off sleep in her reflection in the mirror, he smiled. “Are you getting out of bed anytime soon?”   
“Oh god no,” she chuckled, yawning. “Schauffer and I did so much walking yesterday, I walked all the way to the end of Clivesdale.”  
“What for?”   
“Because it made me feel like I could keep going, like all the way to Guatemala or anywhere else in the world. It made me feel like there weren’t boundaries anymore. But on the bad sad if I even walk today my legs are gonna just like, fall off. They hurt so bad.”  
Paul laughed, “Well you stay in bed then. I’ll come straight home after work. Do you just want take out tonight?”   
“Pizza, let’s eat it in bed.” Emma rolled onto her back and eased herself up to look at Paul. “You okay?”   
“Yeah, uh,” he adjusted his tie again as if he couldn’t get it straight enough. “I was going to talk to Mr. Davidson today and ask for the weekend off.”  
“Oh, cool!” Emma purred. “Just a bit nervous about seeing him?”   
“Yeah, he’s a scary man,” Paul admitted. “Very high energy. He’s gonna tease me about wanting the weekend off for the rest of my life,” he joked.   
“No! You can do it, I’m sure!” She sat up further, wincing when she had to use her leg. “You just have to go in there and be more confident than him, power-move.”   
Paul turned away from the mirror to look at her, tangled up in the sheets with tired yet happy eyes.   
“Power move, hah, sure. I’ll go in there and say ‘give me the weekend off or I’ll fire you,” he rolled his eyes. “I’ll give that a go, I don’t know why that wouldn’t work.”  
“Exactly. I know right? You know what they say,” she begun, her eyes too heavy to stay open but her smile still almost-goofily wide. “He’s probably more scared of you than you are of him.”  
“You should get out of bed and have a shower,” Paul tried to change the topic. He was going to push his fear of Mr. Davidson into the back of his head until he had to talk to him.   
“Firstly, there’s no way I’m standing up right now. Secondly, don’t change the topic. I’m trying to give you a pep talk!”  
“You’re too tired,” he grabbed his jacket off the hanger and slipped it on. “I’m sure I’ll be able to work up the courage,” he tried to tell himself.   
“I know you can do this Paul!” Emma pumped her fist sleepily into the air. “What do you even want the weekend off for?”  
“I thought we could do something, you know? Get dinner or see a movie, just talk, sleep in and stay in bed all day. Anything really. We both just need a break.”  
“Aww, Paul,” Emma sunk back down into the sheets, “that’s cute, I’m sure you’ll get your weekend off! They can surely do without one employee for a couple of hours!”   
Paul blushed, flustered. “Yeah, they should but you know, I’ve probably left it a little late.”  
“Tell them you’re sick or something,” Emma suggested. “Once,” she paused to yawn and readjusted herself under the sheets. “I set an alarm for 3AM, sent Nora a text that said like ‘I’m throwing up, I’m feverish, I can’t come in in the morning.’ It worked really well,” Emma chuckled at the memory of her success. “Oh,” she quickly corrected herself. “But Paul, that was the coward’s ‘my boss keeps me hostage at work so I had no other way’ way out.”   
“Well that’s a bit exaggerated”   
“Listen Paul,” she opened her eyes and sat up again, leaning forward off the side of the bed to grab Paul’s tie and pull him in close, right up to her face. “I know you can do this,” she looked deeply into his eyes.  
Paul laughed anxiously. “Wow, maybe you want this more than me.” He leant in for a quick kiss before pulling away and straightening his tie and his jacket again. “Anyways Em, I’m off.”  
“Good luck Paul!” She cheered. “I know you can do this!”   
“Thanks, Em.” He shut the bedroom door quietly behind him, moving to the kitchen to prepare a quick breakfast. As he pulled some bread out of the pantry he paused, he should probably ask Emma if she wanted anything herself.   
“Hey, babe?” He opened up the bedroom door again.   
Emma had gone right back to sleep.   
Her legs were tangled up in the blanket and she had spread out into his side of the bed, hugging his pillow.  
Of course she had tired herself out cheering him on, she didn’t even have much energy to begin with.   
“Hah, asleep?” He asked.   
No response.   
Her Clivesdale excursion must’ve worked wonders. He hadn’t ever seen her resting so peacefully.   
He grinned, easing the door shut again.  
“Sleep well, Emma.”


	16. It’s something

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Paul makes progress

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Just something real quick !! I haven’t forgotten about it yet haha!

Paul bit back a hiss of pain and clutched his finger tightly. “Ouch,” he sighed, dropping his weekly report on the coffee table.   
“Paper cut?” Emma asked, her eyes drifting to the kitchen where the first aid kit was kept.   
“Yeah, it’s nothing,” he watched a drop of blood dribble down his finger onto his wrist.  
“Want me to get a bandaid?” Emma asked, shifting over on the couch to take Paul’s big hand in hers to check over the cut.   
“I think it’ll be okay,” Paul began but was quickly interrupted by an excited coo from Emma   
“What’s up?” Paul asked, looking at the cut closer and then up at Emma’s face. Her eyes were as wide as her smile.   
“I’ll go grab a bandaid!” Emma offered but continued to hold his hand and stare at the cut.   
Paul waited but Emma made no move to head for the kitchen. With his free hand he reached to grab the papers he was working on and continue reading over them as Emma continued to watch the blood drip down his hand. “You okay there, hun?” He asked. Her grip on his hand was tight.  
Emma giggled quietly.   
“I’m gonna go get a bandaid okay?” He told her, the blood trickling down his skin getting slightly uncomfortable.  
“Paul, it’s just,” she smiled widely with another laugh. “Look!”   
Paul looked at his paper cut again. “Yup, that’s a paper cut,” he stood up but Emma held on, following him to the kitchen. “I’m gonna have to ask you to let go now,” babe.”   
Emma did, but helped him put the bandaid on his finger. “This is really dumb but did you see how red it was?”   
Paul paused, wiping the blood off his wrist with his towel. “Well, it’s looking pretty red huh?” He smiled at her. “Excited?”   
“Super excited,” Emma took a seat, kicking her legs under the kitchen table. “It’s like real blood, what was your last check up at? Have you hit 90% yet?”   
Paul shrugged. “I don’t remember, I don’t really pay attention to the numbers.”   
That seemed to upset Emma quite a bit, “but you should! Hold on, I’ll call Schauffer and ask,” she reached for her phone in her pocket.  
Paul shook his head and chuckled, reaching out to stop her. “I’m seeing her tomorrow for my test. Don’t bother her. I’m not on her good side again yet after getting your afternoon.”  
“Ooh, I have testing too. Could you give Melissa and me a ride?”   
“Yeah, no problem. Does Danny need anything?”   
Emma looked puzzled. “I think Danny’s   
too young to drive, also, he’s like always smoking something or other. I think his dad drops him off.” Her eyebrows raised and she seemed impressed. “He’s totally into pot, let’s bring him to Colorado with us.”  
“Oh my god we aren’t bringing Danny to Colorado with us just so he can buy pot off you.”   
Emma rolled her head back. “But babe, imagine the profits!”   
Paul snickered. “Yeah whatever.”   
Emma stuck her tongue out. “Paul, babe,  
you should be getting excited. Colorado, remember? We’re going to Colorado and we’re starting my pot farm.”   
Paul nodded, entertaining her idea. “I know, I’m excited too. But we have to wait for everyone on the island to have clean blood, it’s not just me.”   
“I know but,” Emma took Paul’s hand again, a tired but relieved smile crossing her face. She looked at the bandaid on his finger that hid the papercut.   
“It’s something.”


	17. Things take time

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Hidgen’s blood isn’t as clean as Emma thought it was

“Ah, Emma you’ll have to excuse me,” Hidgens suddenly stood up from his desk, turning his back to her and clearing his throat. “I’ll be one moment, just wait here and we’ll get back to the topic in just a moment.” The professor left his living room with an awkward walk, his back turned to her the whole time. He headed off to his bedroom, leaving Emma alone.  
Emma entertained herself on her phone for a couple of minutes, checking messages and sending a few pestering texts to Paul, checking up on Melissa, but by the ten minute mark her professor’s absence was getting suspicious.   
She set her phone down in her lap, checking the clock and then her phone again. She tried to carry on with her practice essay but as time marched forward something was clearly wrong.   
“Hidgens?” She called out.   
No response.   
Emma tucked her phone back into her pocket and listened closely for any sort of movement.   
She stood up and crept towards his bedroom door where he had vanished.   
“Professor?” She knocked once on his door, waiting for a reply.   
She heard a muffled cursing but the professor didn’t answer her.   
“I’m coming in, okay?” She eased the door open slowly.   
“Sorry Emma,” Hidgens apologised. He had a handful of tissues clamped to his nose. “I’ve been getting these absolutely awful nosebleeds lately.”   
Emma paused in the door way. “Yeah, no shit,” his floor had a carpet of crumpled up used tissues. “So you’d rather sit in the dark nursing your nosebleed than come help me learn science? Boo,” she teased, moving through his bedroom towards him. “C’mon, how bad is it?”   
“Ah, Emma, you don’t have to,” he held out a hand to keep her back, his other hand still clutched to the ball of tissues on his nose.   
Emma held up her hands in defence. “Sorry, I was just trying to-“ her eyes dropped down to the floor at the pile of tissues at Hidgens’ feet.   
She knew Hidgens knew she saw it - the tissues were covered in blood, not red or even purple, but only a shade or two away from the bright blue it had been.  
“Hidgens,” she started, stammering. “Uh!”   
“Emma, it’s-“ he tried to say something but he had to grab another tissue as the one he was holding became too bloody.   
“These are like,” Emma took in a deep breath. “Blue, Hidgens. They’re-“ she took in a deep breath and couldn’t seem to exhale again, she fell back onto his bed.   
He seemed to want to comfort her but he was too occupied with his nosebleed.   
“What’s your?” She gestured to him. “Y-you’re uh, what’s your blood like?”  
Hidgens took in a calm breath, proffering a hand towards the girl.   
“You’ve been going to get your tests done right?”  
“I- yes, I’ve been missing a few here and there but most of the time!”   
“Hidgens!” Emma snapped, her patience wearing out. “Did you really think you could just brush this under the rug? And that it wasn’t important? Haven’t you gotten this checked out!?”   
“I’m sorry, it’s not that, it’s just-“  
“That you thought it was okay? Hidgens, c’mon, this is like! Not alright! This is blue! We have to go get this shit checked! What mark did you get on your last test?”   
Hidgens mumbled, pushing his hair out of his eyes and accidentally smearing more blood across his forehead. “Thirty, thirty percent.”   
Emma put her hands to her head in frustration, her eyes wide like she had to reevaluate her whole life. “Holy shit. Thirty percent? As in thirty percent clean!?”   
Hidgens nodded. “I can’t make it go any faster dear. I know it’s been going slow but there is nothing I can do about that.” He dabbed the last of his nosebleed dry and tucked his handful of tissues into his coat pocket. “I know you don’t like it, I didn’t want you to know.”   
“Ugh, thirty percent?” She tugged at her hair in her fists. “That’s a whole ass seventy percent unclean, that’s-that’s not even half way there!” Emma shot to her feet and threw out her hands in disbelief. “Hidgens, why haven’t you been seeing someone about this? It’s supposed to go faster! It’s been months! So many months and you’re only thirty percent! You’ve got to be last place or something!”   
Hidgens shook his head. “I’m older Emma. I’ve been looking at data and it’s the youth that are recovering faster. There’s nothing I can do.”   
Emma struggled for breath. “So there are some people who aren’t even at thirty!?”   
Hidgens nodded. “And we cant help that dear, things take time.”  
“Ugh, ugh! Shit, Hidgens I want you to be better! We’re supposed to get out of here with Paul and be like a real family!”  
“Oh! Oh, dear don’t cry!” He pulled Emma into his shoulder and she wrapped her arms tightly around his back. He could feel a wet spot of tears forming on his shoulder. “What’s the matter, Emma? Come on, calm down. Tell me what’s wrong?”  
“I thought you were so much farther along! Doesn’t that mean you still have agents checking in on you and stuff?”   
Hidgens nodded, reaching for the tissue box besides his bed and letting Emma wipe her eyes dry. “Only twice a month, it’s nothing serious dear. I know you’re worried but I’m not showing any serious symptoms. It’s only the colour of my blood it’s nothing to do with me.”   
Emma invited herself back into the hug. “That’s so long to go though.”  
“Deep breaths dear, how’re you feeling? It’s not that long, you know last week I was only at twenty five percent, look how fast that’s gone in one week! I promise you it’ll all be okay.”   
Emma sniffled. “Hidgens, I don’t want this. I don’t want this shitty dystopian quarantine shit.”  
“I know dear, you haven’t been yourself lately. I’ve been so worried about you, so you don’t have to worry about me. We’ll all be better before you know it, I promise.”  
Emma nodded, pulling out of the hug sighing.  
“I’ll be just fine, let’s go wash your face okay? You must be tired.”   
“Just a little bit.”  
He put his hand on her back to guide her back out into the living room and to the bathroom. He handed her a towel and let her wipe her eyes down and waited with her as the redness around her eyes to fade.   
“How about tomorrow you come back after class and we work on your essay together? Then we’ll run by PEIP, I’ll take a blood test and then I’ll take you out for dinner okay? How does that sound?”  
Emma nodded, “that sounds great.”  
“You sound unsure. Do you not want to go to testing?”   
She shrugged, her eyes on the floor. “If there’s bad news I don’t want to hear it.”  
“Well I cant promise you I’ll be any better but I’m sure if I’ve been losing this much blood there’s got to be more red blood in me than blue,” he gestured to the streak he had made on his forehead.  
Emma laughed, rolling her eyes as she regained some of her strong personality. “You should probably see a doctor about that,” she suggested. “How about we do that instead of the practice essay?”  
“Don’t bargain with me, miss Perkins, you still need to get your practice essay done.”   
“Well it was just a suggestion,” she smirked.   
Hidgens shook his head, helping her back out to the living room to gather her papers. “I think I like my suggestion better, dear.”   
Emma nodded, scooping her books up into her arms. “I know.”  
“Feeling better now?” He asked.  
“Hey, the rule is that we aren’t allowed to talk about me crying after I’ve finished crying. We have to pretend that didn’t happen. But if you care so much, yes I do.”   
“I can’t promise I’ll have the best results but you need to keep in mind that things take time. I might be clean in a month or I might not be clean for another year, and I know you don’t like to hear that but that’s just how it is.”   
Emma let out a heavy sigh but smiled and nodded, bumping into his shoulder playfully as he walked her to the front door. “I know, but I’m prepared to wait.”


	18. Colorado

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Emma tells Paul about her Colorado day dreams

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> WOW double upload?? It’s bc I procrastinate studying

Emma had never felt better around Paul as she cuddled under his arm that night, tracing the lines on his palm.  
“Do you wanna know what?” Emma asked.  
“Mhm?” Paul mumbled sleepily, a tired smile crossing his face as Emma ran her fingers across his hand.  
“Do you really wanna know?”  
“Yeah,” Paul mustered up a little more energy into his tired words to assure her. “What is it?”  
Emma giggled in his arms her cold feet pressing up against his legs under the blankets. “In Colorado, I love to think about it during the day.”  
“Me too,” he kissed her forehead, hoping she would tire out on her own. His eyelids were heavy, he shut them but let Emma continue talking.  
“I like to imagine what the house looks like. It’s all paid for already of course, by PEIP. It’s a 5 acre plot of land.”  
“That sounds cool.” Paul tucked his head into the back of Emma’s neck, breathing in her scent, she smelt like coffee beans.  
“That’s a lot of land, about a billion times bigger than my old shoe box apartment. Bigger than our house, or Hidgens’ house even!” She sounded blown away by this fact.  
“We should get a verandah, and we can put little pot plants on it, like lavender and thyme and oh, we could grow all our own herbs.”  
“Yeah, why stop at pot?” Paul joked. “Grow whatever you like.”  
Emma curled his fingers around hers. “And we can get some dogs, and I want to get a little rabbit and we can get an aviary for birds and if the dogs get along we can get a cat, and are you scared of snakes or rats?”  
“Snakes and rats?” Paul repeated.  
“Yeah! I want to get a snake and a couple of rats.”  
“Wow, that’s a zoo.”  
Emma fidgeted excitedly in his hold. “And it’s witness protection so we get paid to stay there! We don’t need to go to work. We can travel anywhere and everywhere and it’s like,” her head tilted towards Paul’s, “right?”  
“Of course.”  
“Great, and we can have a pool and once my leg gets better we can walk around the property in the morning. We’ll get one big bed so the dogs and the cat can sleep with us and, hey, what do you think?”  
“Anything you want, babe.”  
“And it might be a house near the river or the mountain, and we can explore either of them!” She pressed his hand up against her heart.  
“Your hearts going pretty fast.”  
“‘Cus I’m excited. Aren’t you?”  
Paul nodded, taking in a deep breath and drawing one hand through Emma’s hair to calm her down.  
“Hey,” Emma quieted down. “You’re coming with me aren’t you?”  
“Huh? Of course I am Em. Why wouldn’t I?”  
Emma’s relieves chuckle was so low it sounded like purring, Paul could feel the rumbling in her chest. “That’s good. I just wanted to make sure. I thought maybe you’d want to stay in Hatchetfield or something.”  
Paul hugged her. “Don’t worry, I’m pumped for Colorado.”  
“Really?”  
“The other day I was thinking about getting some rescue dogs. Any sort you want.”  
“I want all of them Paul,” she joked. “We’ll have the space!”  
“We will,” Emma confirmed. “Five acres,” she reminded him. “I’ll grow pot and sell it and then we’ll be double rich. Pots the future.”  
“You’ve told me.”  
There was a moment of lazy silence between the two as Paul held onto her and she fiddled with his fingers. “Everything’ll be okay then,” Emma said, but it sounded more like a question.  
“Yeah, everything’ll be okay then,” he repeated more certain. “You’ll love it.”  
“So will you, right?” Emma asked. “You’ll come with me?”  
“You know I’d go anywhere with you, Emma.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Y’all ever heard By the Sea from Sweeney Todd


	19. We have bad days

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Even on awful days, Emma is what makes Paul smile

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> HEAVILY set to the tune of ‘Happy Life’ and ‘Hand over Hand’ by Roland Faunte, in fact there are full lyrics from the song in here.  
> Short and not proof read bc listening to the songs makes me go :( bc they’re sad

Shitty day from start to finish.  
Mr. Davidson called him in early to give him a new assignment he wanted done by the end of the day, he worked through lunch and had to fit in two client orders and ended up working an hour over time.  
Emma had been busy too, too busy to keep him company or take a break to bring him coffee at least.  
Charlotte was out sick and one of his  
co workers needed to pick up some papers she was supposed to finish, he needed them right then of course, and Charlotte didn’t answer her phone. Paul wasted a frantic twenty minutes looking for the papers before Bill returned from lunch, pointing out the papers on his own desk.  
Half way through the day he had to take another half hour to comfort Melissa who had had a breakdown and taken to hiding in the broom closet. No one had noticed and no one had stopped to help her except him.  
Bill had taken a loud phone call with Alice at lunch to argue about visiting Deb and by the end of his extended shift the fatigue was heavy in his bones.  
He turned off his computer and slumped down, resting his head on his desk.  
Nothing else mattered right now. If the building was set on fire he would probably sleep right through it.  
He jumped when his phone rang and brushed aside the piles of papers that had accumulated on his desk throughout the day, finding his phone under the stock reports and pressing it to his ear.  
“Hello?”  
“Hi Paul!” Emma’s easy voice immediately calmed him down, drowning out the residue of the day’s worries, grounding him back down just when he had had enough. “Still held up at work?”  
“I’m just packing up now. D’you think you could preheat the oven?” Before he could explain how hard of a day it had been to justify his request she had complied.  
“Yep! It’s on, what did you want to make? I’ll get it all ready.”  
He hadn’t had time to think about dinner and let out a groan. “Uh, I’ll figure it out when I’m driving. I’ll let you know.”  
“Okay babe. Don’t text and drive. See you soon! Drive safely!”  
Paul felt lighter now, if only by a little. At least the day was finally over.  
At least when he got home he was reminded of what he was all doing it for - Emma.  
The second the door open she turned around to face him with a beaming smile.  
“Thank god that day’s over with, right?” She grinned. “Fucking nightmare! Am I right? I say we start a revolution, if we’re trapped here PEIP should at least be paying our rent or some shit.”  
She limped up to him and slipped her arms around his waist, giving him a quick kiss.  
Paul stifled a laugh, his skin tingling happily where Emma‘s hands touched his back. His body hummed a silent, happy tune as he hugged her back.  
“Is this warm welcome only to distract me from the kitchen?” He asked.  
“Hah, no, of course not. What kitchen?” She released him from the hug to elbow him playfully. “Nah you got me. I have no clue how I screwed up this badly,” she pointed him towards the kitchen. “I’ll give you the grand tour. This is where I spilled the baking oil and this is the pile of paper towel I wasted trying to clean it up. This is where I burnt myself taking the tray out of the oven and here’s the glass I smashed. That last one isn’t related to anything else but you know, Murphy’s law.”  
Paul rubbed his forehead, letting Emma’s pretty voice wash away his worries.  
-oh and what a pretty voice she has. It would sound so lovely singing-  
Paul jerked back and the thought had instantly vanished from his mind as if it hadn’t been there.  
His body felt hollow and stiff at the same time. He racked his brain for any other thought like that, searching frantically to the point he was no longer listening to Emma. That wasn’t right, he had hit 90% clean on his last test. He shouldn’t be having Hive thoughts anymore. That wasn’t right, that just wasn’t right. He couldn’t be having a relapse could he? That didn’t happen, it couldn’t happen. He was not part of the Hive anymore. He didn’t want to hear Emma sing. He was his own being, this couldn’t be happening.  
“Paul?”  
“Ah, shit. Sorry Em I was just zoning out. I don’t know what happened there, long day I guess. What did you say?”  
“I was telling you how I thought I could try preparing dinner tonight, you sounded so stressed when I rang you earlier but I fucked it up so I guess it’s all yours again, chief. Today isn’t the day we want to burn the house down, right?” Her pretty brown eyes gleamed, embarrassed but in good spirits. “Hey, are you alright?” She asked, leaning across the kitchen bench to grab his hand. “You don’t look well.”  
Paul let the warmth of Emma’s hands seep into his cold body for a second, not finding it in his mind to reply. “Fucking awful day, Em.”  
Emma’s eyes widened, deepening with sorrow. “Shit, really?”  
“I’m exhausted. I just wanna lie down. Can we just lie down?” He asked. He didn’t like how desperate it came out but his bones screamed at him to lie down and finally get the day over with.  
Emma nodded her head up and down and up and down, nodding all the way down the hallway as she guided Paul towards their bedroom.  
Paul’s legs gave in the moment he hit the bed and he sank into the sheets.  
“What’s wrong, hun?” Emma crawled under the covers next to him. She looked up at him with worry clear in her expression.  
“I don’t wanna talk about it,” his voice quivered. “But for now it all just really hurts and I need you to hold my hand.”  
“Mhm,” Emma inclined, taking his hands in hers and rubbing circles into them. “I hope I’m not like, making things bad for you. Like, I don’t want you to feel rushed to be clean just because I want to go to Colorado you know?”  
Paul shook his head. “It’s not you Em. You aren’t the problem, don’t start me on that.” He hugged her close to his chest, breathing in her scent. “You’re my best friend in the whole world Emma. I’m so happy to share my future with you. I really think I found it, Em.”  
Emma nodded, pulling back to look up at Paul with her beautiful, wide eyes. Her hair tumbled down her shoulders and curled around her fingers pressed to his chest.  
She was blindingly beautiful, just looking at her made everything stop hurting. He could stare at her all day, he was sure she was the most beautiful girl on the planet.  
“I think about Colorado a lot too, when we go there we’ll both be happy. I can be there for you, just let me show you.”  
Emma tensed up at the rhyme.  
Paul felt his own blood go cold. This was too much. This was not the day for the Hive to be trying to sneak back into his head but as if the day couldn’t get any worse he let out a simple hum.  
He didn’t know where it came from, he didn’t have the urge to continue but didn’t have the energy to stop. He fought for its control, if he couldn’t help it he would at least make it as gentle as he could.  
Emma shook in his hands but did not fight to escape. She only hugged him tighter, whispering something Paul’s mind couldn’t comprehend as it worked away at every other problem he had to deal with.  
He didn’t deserve her, not if he couldn’t fight off the infection. He didn’t know why he couldn’t stop all of a sudden, even if the song was no more that a whisper below his breath it was still something that proved he had not made it. He had not escaped, he wasn’t clean, he wasn’t good enough for the girl with the voice like the morning sun and beautiful, glowing brown eyes and the perfect smile and he was promising her things he couldn’t give her. He was giving her dreams he couldn’t fulfil that neither of them could enjoy. He was fantasising ahead too much for someone who couldn’t even test clean.  
He clamped his jaw shut, stopping the song. He couldn’t have Emma leave him. He didn’t deserve her but he needed her with every fibre of his being, he couldn’t let her down.  
“Emma,” he started, his voice shivering. “I’m sorry.”  
Emma only nodded.  
“I’m sorry, please don’t-“  
“Paul,” she spoke his name quietly, tucking her head under his chin. “You’re fine. You’re fine. Don’t freak out.” She pressed her hands against his beating heart. “We’re getting better together. I’m here for you. You didn’t mean to, I know. It’s okay. I’m fine and you’re fine. Just breathe.”  
Paul took one shaky breath in, breathing out with her until he could utter his apology. “Bad day, Em,” he tried to justify it all again. He tightened his hold on her and she rubbed his back, their legs intertwined in the sheets and her breath cool on his shoulder.  
For a moment they existed outside of everything else. It had never been clearer that if he needed something he needed her. She was his answer, his one and only, the key to his very being. When nothing else mattered, she still did.  
“It’s okay Paul. I know, I love you,” Emma breathed.  
“Sometimes we have bad days. We work through them together.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Did NoT like this chapter much it was more abstract than anything but uuuuu whenever I heard those songs I go o fucking sweet just like Paul


	20. Closure

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Paul helps Melissa get a little bit of closure

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Get that brother sister dynamic  
> That’s why there’s no plot to this it’s just bc I wanted to write Melissa and Paul sibling dynamic

“Coffee’s on me, Paul,” Melissa smiled timidly after they exited Beanies with the good news. “You don’t have to worry about paying me back.” She linked arms with him happily, letting him guide her down the street as she focused on her tea.   
“I was so scared last night, Mel, you have no clue. It’s just like, wow! It’s finally happened. Emma’s so happy, happier than me probably.”   
Melissa nodded. “I’m happy too!” She reminded him.   
“I can tell, you’re very talkative today.”   
He had carried around the papers in his pocket all day and Melissa had constantly been requesting to look at them almost every hour.   
‘Blood to spore ratio - 1:0  
100% clean ‘  
The paper said.   
Emma hadn’t believed him. She didn’t want to mention what he had done the night before but she was convinced he had to be lying until she saw the papers herself.   
Colonel Schauffer hadn’t been alarmed at all to hear the news and had almost immediately recognised the symptoms. She called it the Hive’s death rattle, it was nothing more than a sign the infection had completely left his body.   
“It didn’t feel good at the time, Mel, it felt like vomiting almost, really awful.”  
Melissa didn’t vocalise her response but her eyes widened briefly and she nodded.   
“It’s weird how light I feel now, I think this is what it must feel like to do one of those diet cleanses or something.”  
Melissa’s attention was drawn away when she heard footsteps behind her. She snapped around, eyeing up the man who was walking behind them before moving in closer to Paul’s side and raising her shoulders up around her neck.   
“What’s up?” Paul asked.   
Melissa shook her hands to sign ‘nothing’ before checking her watch. “Just get a bad feeling,” she whispered.   
“Well here,” Paul tapped the side of her headphones before putting his arm protectively around her back.   
Melissa shook her head, she didn’t want to wear her headphones right now. Her free hand was gripping at the air as if she wanted to hold something.   
Paul walked Melissa faster, she was getting progressively more unsettled. She kept casting glances at the other man on the footpath and that was when he realised she wasn’t going into a defence mode, but an attack mode.   
Her hands were still clutching at an invisible shape in the air that Paul now recognised as her softball bat.   
“Are you alright, Mel?” He asked again, looking both ways before leading her to the other side of the road.   
Melissa let out a vicious, angry growl, tensing up. “I know that man, I know him.”  
“Are you sure? He doesn’t seem to know you,” Paul whispered back, watching the man continue up the road and vanish around the corner.   
“I know him!” She snapped, her expression morphing into disbelief as he disappeared. “He didn’t see me!?”  
Melissa was different in attack mode. She didn’t care about volume or civility or time any more, her actions became purely self-preservational.   
“Wow, calm down, calm down. Breathe, everything’s fine. That man’s gone now,” he halted her in her path by putting both his hands on her shoulders. “Who was he?”   
Melissa stood on the tips of her toes to try and see past Paul’s shoulder but he was too tall. “He’s gone now. He didn’t recognise me.”   
Melissa bared her teeth, pulling at Paul’s grip. “He was in the office when it happened,” she tried to explain but wasn’t calm enough to elaborate. “I need my bat! Come on, we have to go to my house! I don’t trust him!”   
“We aren’t going home Melissa, we’re on break!”   
“There’s enough time! It’s only seventeen minutes away! Quick, before he gets away! He’s going to try something I know it!” She was angry enough to start dropping her seconds from the time.   
“Hey!” Paul exclaimed again in a last effort to get her to calm down. He slipped his hands under her arms and lifted her off her feet slightly. “We aren’t yelling, okay? We don’t have to yell, we’re safe. He doesn’t know you. Who was that man?”   
It took Melissa a few more moments to calm down but Paul didn’t set her back on her own feet until she did.   
Melissa let out one last growl before readjusting her blazer and tweaking her glasses to settle herself. “Well now we’re walking on the wrong side of the road,” she let out a defeated but calm sigh, retreating back to her schedule for comfort.  
“We’ll cross it then.”   
“I recognised that man. He has a square chin and his sideburns aren’t shaved properly and his nose is pointed,” she told him. “He looked dumb anyways.”   
“So you’d know that face anywhere?”  
Melissa nodded and signed a quick ‘yes.’ “He was in the office when everything went wrong. Just a client. I helped him find the right desk to go to.”   
“Oh, so what’s wrong with him?” Paul asked gently, trying not to provoke her.   
Melissa wrapped her fingers around Paul’s hand and didn’t continue.   
“It’s okay, you don’t have to tell me,” Paul reassured her. “I don’t mind.”   
Melissa nodded and made a few shaky signs that Paul couldn’t read. “Oh, he was infected,” Melissa sighed in a way that severely undercut the seriousness of mood. “And he tried to infect me.”  
“Oh!” Paul gaped. “And so you..?”   
“I stood on his foot and punched him in the jaw and got out of there. I didn’t know he was infected I guess, I thought Mr. Davidson was going to fire me.”   
“He wouldn’t fire you for self defence, Mel. Is that what you’re mad about?”   
“It’s a blur. All I know is I don’t like him. I hate that man. He makes me angry,”   
Melissa stated. She glared up the road as if she could still possibly catch a glimpse of the man.   
“Well maybe he didn’t recognise you because he was infected. It wasn’t really him,” Paul explained. “My time in the Hive is very blurry. I’m sure he wouldn’t even remember you.”   
Melissa bit her lip and grunted but her shoulders fell. “That was the opposite of closure. Just made me mad,” she crossed her arms. “I thought we had to fight it out.”   
“Nope. You can just forget about it.”   
“Don’t like that.”  
“Are you sure? You look a little less tense,” he touched her shoulder lightly.  
“No!” She batted him away. “M’Not feeling better! I’m still mad. He just walked away. Didn’t even look at me.”   
Paul snorted, rubbing her back comfortingly. “That’s a good thing. He’s already forgotten.”  
“Well I had forgotten about him too before I saw him! Now I remember it all again!” Melissa pulled on her headphones and huffed, linking arms with Paul again as he scanned his keycard into the office.   
“I think you’re feeling a little better, Mel.”  
“Nope, I can’t hear you my headphones are on.”


	21. The things I can’t say when you’re awake

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Emma’s top energy is a coping mechanism used to hide the fact she’s a coward who won’t admit she’s in love.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> God pretend I posted this chapter to the right story omg I’m a dumbass

Emma took Paul’s hand in hers, staring into his shut eyes.   
He was fast asleep and was snoring peacefully.   
She watched the silhouette of his chest rise and fall as he breathed.   
“Oh man,” Emma sighed. “Let’s talk, Paul,” she started, although her plan was for it to be a very one sided conversation. Hopefully he wasn’t going to wake up.   
“So, uh,” she mumbled, playing with his fingers. “God, you know I can only say this because you’re asleep. If you wake up I’ll punch your lights out because you aren’t supposed to hear this. I’m hoping you’re subconscious will pick it all up and just like, do all the talking and expression for me.”   
Paul didn’t shift. He was definitely asleep.   
“I know you’ve been so tired this week, like, you’ve been doing so much at work and with testing and now you’re one hundred percent clean. That’s exciting and I’m really happy.” She could feel her throat crying up and she laughed quietly to herself. “I don’t usually say this shit. It’s too sappy for me. But thanks for looking after me even when you’re probably going through as much shit as me.” She held his hand tighter and burrowed further under the sheets. “Hah, fuck. I’m sorry, don’t know where I’m going with this shit.” She let the silence envelop her for a moment, waiting to see if Paul would wake up.   
She shifted herself into his arms, resting her head up against his chest to listen to his heartbeat.   
Paul sleepily wrapped his arms around her.   
“This isn’t romantic, I’m testing your heart rate to see if you wake up.” It was strange to defend herself to someone who wasn’t even awake. “Thanks for putting up with me and loving me even though I’m a glorified bully.“ She entwined her legs with his. “And I love you, I love you so much. I’m glad I know you and I’m glad you came into Beanies everyday and I never would’ve imagined having my own coffee shop love story.”   
His touch was so unbelievably gentle against her skin.  
“Thanks for throwing away five dollars a day on our shitty coffee just to meet me,” she mumbled, shrugging. “I always looked forward to you stopping by, I still do. But we see each other every day at home so you can just go to Starbucks if you want,” she joked, mostly to play off how serious she was being.   
“But I love you, thank you Paul.” Even when she had finished speaking she kept her ear to his heart.   
Paul’s legs curled and adjusted themselves around hers and Emma felt his heart rate pick up from its slow, sleeping pace.   
“Hi Em,” his blue eyes opened slowly, looking down at her with a pure, unconditional love that asked for nothing back. “You still up?”   
Emma nodded. “Did I wake you?”   
“Nah,” he grunted as he stretched. “Just had a funny dream,” he shut his eyes again and settled back down. “Goodnight Em, get some sleep soon. Love you.”  
“I will. Go back to sleep.”   
Maybe one day she’d tell him all that when he was awake.


	22. Chapter 22

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Paul notices somethings up with Melissa

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Something dumb and w little plot and little plot resolution bc it was a cover up chapter to hide the fact I posted the last chapter to the wrong place & didn’t want to repost it without new content to add I am so sorry lmao

“Something’s up with Melissa today,” Paul started before he could even ask for his usual black coffee.   
“What do you mean?” Emma asked, starting on his coffee regardless.   
“She isn’t talking.”   
“I don’t see the problem there,” Emma raised an eyebrow. “She doesn’t talk, that’s her thing.”  
“But I can tell something is wrong. She’s just acting differently today. She’s really jumpy.”   
“Do you want me to text her? Maybe she’s having a bad day today,” Emma offered, pouring the coffee into a cup.   
Paul shook his head. “No, it’s not that. She looks like she wants something but she won’t talk.”   
“I was texting her today, she seemed alright.” Emma finished off his coffee and slid it to his side of the counter, eyeing the back door. “Maybe I’ll take my break right now, I’ll come over and see her.”   
“I was gonna drive her over to Schauffer, it’s like she’s been spooked or something.”   
“Whack, hold on I’ll just ask Nora if I can hop off for a sec.”   
She ducked into the back room, untying her apron as she went. “Hey Nora, I’m going on break - I have an appointment with Schauffer, it shouldn’t be long but I might be back late. Is that all good?”   
Nora looked up from the books she was working on and gave a thumbs up.   
“Text me if you think you’ll be a while.”   
“Got it, thanks!” Emma hung up her apron.   
She rushed back out to the main floor, slapping her hand into Paul’s and giving him a curt nod. “Let’s go, I wanna see how she’s doing.”   
He gave her hand a squeeze and entwined their fingers as they started to walk. “I’m a bit worried too. Come on.”   
Melissa was behind her desk as she should be, but she was standing up, her eyes fixed on the door and her headphones off.  
Emma could figure out what Paul was talking about, she was definitely unsettled.   
“Hi Mel,” Emma gave an unsure wave. “What’s up?”   
Melissa’s jaw dropped upon seeing Emma but she turned back to watch the door.   
“Mhm,” Emma mumbled. “That isn’t right.”   
She approached Melissa’s desk and her only response was to rise up on the tips of her toes to get a clear view of the door over Emma’s head.  
“D’you wanna go see Schauffer?” She asked.   
As if she hadn’t seen them before Melissa finally made eye contact with Emma and Paul, uttering a quiet ‘huh?’  
“Do you wanna talk to Schauffer? Is something wrong?” Paul repeated.   
Melissa looked to think over the option for only a second before she started nodding frantically, scrambling to pack her bag and tidy her desk.   
She grabbed Paul’s free hand and started to yank.   
“Yikes, good thing you noticed something was off,” Emma was surprised by her eagerness, she was practically dragging Paul with the pace she was moving at.   
In the car, Melissa took the front seat. Her eyes were glued to the road and she kept leaning forward in her seat as if she was looking out for something. When they reached a stoplight she began to tap her foot impatiently.  
“You know I’m starting to think,” Emma leant forward from the back seat, giving Paul a look. “Mel’s lost it. All this stress has gone to her head.”   
“Don’t talk about her like she isn’t here.”   
“Well Paul, I’m starting to think maybe she isn’t.” To prove her point she tapped Melissa’s shoulder.   
“Oh fuck!” Melissa’s hand darted our at the speed of light to grab Emma’s wrist, jerking her forward.   
“Wow!” Emma exclaimed. “Okay, so I was wrong, I’ll admit that. Melissa? Do you wanna let go? You’re hurting me.”   
“Wow,” Melissa let go of her wrist but didn’t seem to have the time to apologise.   
“Yeah, you learn the hard way not to do that,” Paul nodded. “I just sorta feel out how she’s doing and today isn’t a good day for her.”   
“Good thing you noticed,” Emma nursed her wrist. “Schauffer will figure it out.”   
Melissa waited on edge for Paul and Emma to get out of the car, taking both of their hands and bolting up the staircase into the PEIP offices.   
She was escorted by two PEIP personnel off to Schauffer’s office and all Emma and Paul could do in the meantime was wait.   
“You can go back to work if you want,” Paul offered. “I’ll wait for Melissa.”  
“Nah I text Nora. You should go back to work though.”   
“I’m not leaving Melissa,” Paul reiterated. “We’ll wait here together then Em.”   
Sounds of machines and heavy footsteps filled the building constantly as PEIP officers moved up and down the halls, escorting civilians from tests to counselling to meetings.   
The building smelt sterile and the lights were all a blinding artificial white and it made Emma’s skin crawl.   
“I hate this place,” she huffed. “I’m like, freaking out just being here. My veins are prepping themselves to be injected, look,” she pointed at her arm.   
“Do you wanna run a test while we’re here?”  
“Hard pass,” she rolled her eyes. “We get it Mr. Matthews, you’re clean,” although just the mention of that alone was enough to rest her heartbeat again and make her smile. “Took you long enough.”   
“You can’t say that when Hidgens is barely half way there,” he retorted, putting his arm around her shoulder.   
They watched officers trek back and forth through the halls, waiting for one of them to return Melissa to them.   
They exchanged nervous glances as a troop of officers made their way down the hall and out the front door, murmuring angrily.   
They saw Schauffer next, a heavy stack of papers in her arms and Melissa by her side.   
“Well Mr. Matthews,” Schauffer let Melissa slip back to his side. “It’s a good thing you brought her here when you did. She’s made some very interesting reports.” She turned her attention back to the secretary. “We’re already got some staff on it, I trust that makes you feel better?”   
Melissa nodded, “thank you, miss.”   
“What’s up?” Emma asked.   
“She reported singing nearby her apartment. There’s been a man who hasn’t been showing up to testing hadn’t even been passing fifteen percent in his last test, although that was a while ago. We have reason to believe Melissa might’ve seen him.”   
“Shoot, that’s scary,” Paul blinked, looking down at Melissa to make sure she was alright.   
“Well it’s those with low count like this man that we have to keep an eye on for behaviour like this. It looks like we’ll have to bring him in for a while. You’ve done a good job reporting this, Melissa. You’re all good to go.”   
“Oh!” Emma stood up, happy to be out of there. “Thank you, colonel.”  
“Not a problem, Emma. Don’t forget you have an appointment yourself tomorrow morning. I’ll see you then.”   
Emma sighed, nodding. “Yup. I’ll be here.”  
Melissa was much more at ease when they got back in the car, she sat in the back seat this time.   
“I’ll drop you back at work, Em,” Paul offered. “Hey Melissa? You all good back there?” Paul looked at her in the rear view mirror.   
She nodded. “Better now.”   
“Were you scared?” Emma asked.   
“Yep.”  
“And what did you do?”   
“Went to work.”   
Paul nodded. “Of course you did. When were you gonna tell Schauffer?”   
“I planned to see her tomorrow morning at seven. That’s just when we see her.”   
“Still with that schedule huh?” Emma was understanding. “It’s a good thing Paul brought you here then now. She sounded pretty pleased that you reported it.”   
Melissa smiled. “Yes! She was very happy with me.”   
“Ooh,” Emma suddenly cooed, leaning forward in her chair. “Actually Paul, you might wanna let me walk. I’m thinking you should get to work real quick.”   
“Oh!” Melissa put her hand to her mouth as she realised.   
“What? Why? I don’t mind dropping you off.   
Emma shook her head. “No, really.”   
“Ah shit,” Paul drew out the sound. “We forgot to tell Mr. Davidson we left.”


	23. One month

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Schauffer accidentally lets some very confidential information slip

“What do we do with the island once this is over?” Schauffer had been stuck with the question for a while now. They couldn’t let the truth spread to the rest of the world and questions were going to be asked.   
When the average RBC to spore content level was at 20% this was not a problem in PEIP’s mind just yet, but as of the last round of testing the new average had just hit 80% so there wasn’t much time for thought anymore.   
“Well, we cant just keep them here forever,” she sighed, leaning back in her chair.   
There were murmurs and whispers around town, some sort of rumour spreading that the Quarantine was almost over. They weren’t half wrong, but if they couldn’t find a protocol for dealing with this level of people it might have to be extended.   
“Colonel?” There was a knock at the door. “The participants are here for testing.”   
Schauffer gave a nod and stood from her desk, she could deal with this problem afterwards.   
The busy hallways cleared for her as she walked through, entering the testing room.   
“Good morning everyone,” she began. This many months into the quarantine there wasn’t as much need for formality anymore.   
“Morning, Schauffer!” Emma smiled.   
Melissa gave a wave and Danny threw up a peace sign.   
Schauffer slipped on a pair of disposable gloves, examining the equipment on the trays around the room.   
“How’s Paul, Emma?” She asked, making conversation to keep the silence away as she prepared their usual tests.   
“He’s good! Busy at work.”  
“Busy day,” Melissa cooed her confirmation.   
“Pros to not having a job,” Danny chimed in.   
“Okay but you live with your parents and spend your pocket money on weed so don’t come for me,” Emma shrugged.   
Schauffer snickered, careful not to move too much to give away her smile. She loved listening in on their banter, it was strange, they didn’t tolerate each other but they got along.   
“Ooooh,” Melissa bit her lip to hide her smile. She liked their back and forth more than getting involved herself.   
“Okay, don’t talk big business if you work in a coffee shop. Don’t at me with your living with your parents bullshit when you hang out with your dad daily.”   
Emma rolled her eyes. “You’re like twelve, shut up,” she laughed.   
Melissa swung her legs under her chair happily.   
“I’m eighteen, so you shut up.”   
“I’m twenty five,” Melissa pitched in.   
“Thanks, Melissa,” Emma nodded.   
“Good job,” Danny added, patting her shoulder.   
“Yes, you’re getting there aren’t you?” Schauffer tended to stay out of their personal talk but she did like Melissa.   
“You’re in a good mood today, colonel,” Emma pointed out, rolling up her sleeve in preparation for her blood test.   
Schauffer nodded, chuckling. “Just some work going on behind the scenes right now.”   
“Ooh, any chance we’re headed back to Clivesdale or will I have to sic my boyfriend on you again?” Emma teased.   
“Nice try, no luck.”   
Emma sighed and gave a defeated nod.   
Danny rolled his eyes. “Why’d she get to go to Clivesdale?”   
“Because she has a partner who doesn’t know when to stop, Danny. Do you want to go to Clivesdale?”   
“What! He gets to go!? You’re letting him piggyback off Paul’s hard work like that!?” Emma whined.   
Danny snorted. “Aw, you’re dating a guy named Paul? He sounds like the CEO of a company that sells - something boring - paper, or cardboard boxes.”   
“Printers, actually,” Melissa corrected. “It’s fun,” she smiled.  
“You girls just like to gang up on me. I could probably beat you in a fight.”   
“Doubt it. I’m ripped.”   
“You’re old.”  
“I’m like ten years older than you. That’s not old. I could destroy you.”  
Schauffer didn’t need to turn around to know that they wouldn’t joke about the chance to fight. “Sit back down you two. You can fight in your own time. We have to get this tests done.”   
Melissa mumbled, hunching her shoulders. She never liked the needles.   
“I’ll go first, it’s okay,” Emma offered, sticking out her arm.   
“I appreciate the enthusiasm,” Schauffer prodded her arm for the vein and the Barista let out only a small hiss of pain as the needle entered the skin.   
Melissa flinched, letting out a small whimper at the girl’s noise.   
“Hey, Melissa. Don’t panic. This is probably the last test you’ll do.” Fortunately, after so many years of training her reflexes were fast to account for the truth she had let slip, and she bolted to grab Emma’s shoulder to stop her from moving.   
“This is our last test!?” Her jaw dropped.   
Schauffer drew her blood as fast as she could before pulling the needle out.   
Emma didn’t wait to get it bandaged.   
“Oh shit!” The surprise was too much for her brain to process it seemed, her eyes were wide but the smile hadn’t quite come yet. “Hold on I’ve got to-!” She darted from the room and Schauffer watched her go.   
“She’ll be back,” Danny shrugged.   
“So, only a month do you think?”   
Schauffer took in a deep breath. “That wasn’t supposed to come up. You can’t repeat that to anyone. Do you think Emma knows?” She stuck her head out through the door to double check on her.   
She was doing excited laps of the hallway.  
“Just burning off steam?” Schauffer laughed.   
“I’m so-!” Emma pulled herself to a halt to avoid crashing into the colonel. “One month!?”  
“You can’t tell anyone though, Perkins. That’s protocol.”   
Emma was still too surprised to nod. “Wow, I just got all this Adrenalin, I gotta keep running.”   
Schauffer eyed her leg. “You aren’t supposed to be running.”   
“Well I gotta do something with all this energy, holy shit! I’m so!” She could never seem to find the right word to describe her joy.   
“We’re going to carry on testing, come sit back down after you finish your lap,” she called to Emma, who was back down the other end of the hallway.   
“So that’s like twenty percent or whatever? Then people can leave if they want?”  
“Depends on who wants to leave, Danny. Not everyone wants to go, it’s mainly just,” she tilted her head to the door. “A few excited people.”  
“She acts like a caged animal.”   
“She’s a traveller. She used to live in Guatemala. Had a bit of bad luck and came back to Hatchetfield right before the incident. She’s rearing to go.”   
Emma swung the door back open again as she burst through. “One month!” She exclaimed.   
“Voice down!” Melissa tapped Emma’s empty seat to get her to sit down.   
“What about you, colonel. Are you going back to wherever you came from?” Danny asked.  
“I’ll miss you,” Melissa frowned, reaching for the colonel’s sleeve.   
She shrugged. “It’s possible. But I do love the people here.”  
“You can just say Melissa,” Emma teased, elbowing Schauffer.   
“All three of you have been lovely to work with. This is one of the most interesting cases I’ve ever worked.”   
“So you’ve worked other cases like this?” Emma gaped.  
She grinned. Emma was ever the curious type. “Well, Perkins. That information is classified.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Uuuu this is me hoping Schauffer will rock up in Black Friday bc I love her


	24. The Clivesdale lights

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Sometimes the citizens of Hatchetfield just want fresh air they can’t have

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Bro just stay inside

“I really don’t think we should do this,” Alice tugged at Deb’s sleeve, her other hand tight in her girlfriend’s. 

“Hey, it’ll be fine Ally,” Deb promised, teasing her with a kiss on the cheek. “Besides, if anything bad happens we’ll blame it on Danny,” she joked. 

Alice let out a nervous laugh, her chest tight. She loved Deb, and sometimes her friends were fun too, but she wasn’t a rule breaker. 

Danny and Sof were just being too loud, one of the PEIP guards would hear them if they kept laughing so loud. 

“Hey, babe. Don’t be worried. They won’t be able to see us,” Deb swung her hand in hers. “That’s what Danny says, if we don’t have a torch they can’t see us. It’s too dark,” she pointed a finger up to the moon, and both her and Alice’s eyes lingered there for a second. 

“I know but, no offence, Danny isn’t always right,” she winced, lowering her head. Any second now they would be caught. A PEIP guard would stop them the second they set foot on the beach, yell at them all, take them down to the offices or the HFPD, and then they would tell her dad and then the officer would tell the colonel and then the colonel would think she causes trouble -which she doesn’t!- and she wouldn’t like her ever. Which would suck, because they were going to be quarantined here for so long. 

“Hey,” Danny gave a smug chuckle. “Scared, Alice? You should go home then.”

Sof’s laugh was rancorous and she slapped Danny on the back. “Get off her ass. Shut your mouth or some soldier is gonna hear you,” she sneered. “I want to actually get to the fucking coastline before we get caught.”

“Are we gonna get caught?” Alice’s throat was dry, She clenched Deb’s hand. 

“No!” Deb snapped at her friends. “If we shut up we won’t get caught, so stop ruining this for us, asshole!” 

Deb had promised it would be a good night, otherwise she wouldn’t have broken the rules! But apparently Danny had heard from a friend who had heard from a friend of a friend of a friend had almost made it to the coastline. You could see everything from there, all the city lights in Clivesdale, apparently the sea doesn’t look nearly as beautiful in the day. ‘Best thing he’s ever seen,’ Danny promised. 

Deb thought it sounded romantic. She thought it could be a date, but Alice really wanted to go home now. They could just go lie on her bed and turn her fairy lights on, same thing. Every noise was making her go insane, she was not a rule breaker! But she also didn’t want to ruin Deb’s night.

“We’re supposed to stay inside at night,” Alice reminded them all. “You know we have to be at home after curfew so the people from PEIP can find us if anything is wrong.”

“What’re you making a big deal of that for, Al?” Sof fell back a step to walk besides her. “Your blood is all clear, so’s your dad’s. No one is gonna come looking for you.” 

“Yeah well, what if they’re looking for you?” Sof wasn’t clearing the infection so well. 

“That’s not your problem, Alice,” Danny bit back. 

“Hey! Piss off, man. Leave her alone. We know we aren’t following the rules, let her be anxious! You’re loud fucking mouth is gonna get us caught at this rate anyways.”

“Yeah, shut up Danny!” Sof pelted her friend again, laughing. 

Deb dropped Alice’s hand for a second to loop her arms around both of her friend’s necks, yanking their heads together. “Shut up, if you ruin this for us I’m gonna beat you both up!” 

“I could take you in a fight,” Danny pushed her off him. “I could take all three of you with one hand behind my back, I bet.” 

“Dumbass,” Sof grabbed his shoulders, driving her knee up into his groin. 

“Shit!” He keeled over, somewhere between laughing and crying, Alice didn’t think it was funny. 

She clamped her hands to her ears. “Let’s just hurry up and get there so we can get back okay?” She picked up her pace, passing through Danny and Sof into almost a jog. 

“Hey, Ally!” Deb caught up with her, grabbing her hand, stopping her in her tracks. “It’s okay, we can just go home, alright?” She rubbed her thumb over her hands, her eyes catching Alice’s, the moon just touching her forehead. “We’ll come back another night maybe? Without those two?” She tilted her head towards the two of them who were still roughhousing on the sand. 

“Yeah,” Alice’s lip trembled. She just didn’t want to get caught. “I’m not a rule breaker, Deb!” 

“I know you aren’t, baby! You aren’t a rule breaker, I’m sorry, this wasn’t a good date, we’ll do something different okay?” 

“Yeah, that’s nice,” she was already picturing how good it would be just to get into her own bed, completely unscathed by trouble. “Yeah, let’s do that okay? I don’t wanna be here.” She was beginning to tread the sand, shifting her weight back and forth. “I don’t want break the rules.” 

“I know. I’m sorry, I didn’t think it would make you so anxious.” 

“Can’t we just go home and turn off all the lights and put the fairy lights on? Same thing right? Won’t that work? Just us?”

“Hey, what’s going on out here?” 

Alice’s watery eyes flinched shut as a torch light found them, chasing away the gentle light of the moon and capturing the four of them. 

Danny and Sof came to a halt, letting each other go and sheepishly rising to their feet to try and see who was behind the light. 

“What’re you doing out here?” The light lowered slightly as the soldier made their way down the ridge onto the beach. “You know the curfew, don’t suppose you want to head down to the station or the offices do you?” 

“Aww, shit,” Sof brushed down her skirt. 

Alice didn’t think she could move, even if she tried. She couldn’t feel her knees, her whole body felt like it was sinking and yet something was rising in her throat. She was going to vomit. She had gotten caught, she wanted to just slip away, she hadn’t gotten in trouble before! She didn’t even know what to do or how everyone was copping it with just a frown. She didn’t know what she was doing, she was either going to pass out or cry or buckle under the pressure. 

“Alright, come on. If you come now I’ll won’t tell anyone, I don’t want to bother with the paperwork either,” the officer lowered their torch. “I’d expect this much from you, Danny, but I wasn’t thinking I’d see Alice out here!” When the light was clicked off Alice recognised her silhouette in the moonlight right away. 

“Colonel?” She was in big trouble now. Without another word she burst into tears. Just like a little girl. She almost couldn’t breathe, even when Deb took her under her arm to try and comfort her she just couldn’t stop wailing. Now everyone would know she broke the rules. Her whole life felt like it was over. 

“Hey, woah, keep it quiet,” she heard the crunching of boots on sand, and then Colonel Schaeffer put a hand on her shoulder. “Why’re you crying? Don’t be so loud, then someone else will come check it out and then we’ll have witnesses. Then I’ll have to fill out a report.” 

“Colonel, Alice did nothing wrong,” Deb tried to step in. “We made her come, she didn’t want to, don’t get her in trouble.” 

“I know that,” the colonel assured her. “This is one of Danny’s tricks. I know one when I see one.” 

Alice didn’t actually know who’s shoulder she was crying into now. 

“Hah. I’m sorry, colonel,” Danny chuckled, rubbing his neck. 

Maybe he could be useful for once. Alice knew Danny was closer with Schaeffer, he had been in mandatory testing from the start with Emma and Melissa, the ones who had never gotten infected. Maybe he could bargain their way out of this. 

“You aren’t allowed to be out past curfew! You’re a real idiot sometimes Danny, we’ve got guards patrolling the whole coast. What’re you doing out here?” 

“Well we heard about that girl!” Sof started instead. “You took a girl out of town! How can you do that but we can’t even go to the tide past curfew?” 

Schaeffer’s face hardened, she patted Alice’s back before taking a step back to go admonish Sof and Danny. “Perkins was never infected, kid. She shouldn’t have been caught up in this mess. But we can’t have anyone who was infected with the virus leave town, does that make sense?” 

“You just like Perkins.” 

“I am not into favouritism, Danny. There was a lot of haggling.”

“I bet you’d take Melissa out if she asked,” he jeered. 

She scuffed her knuckles against his shoulder in warning. “I don’t think Melissa is capable of asking,” she corrected him. “I would never take Melissa off the island, I think her heart would stop.” 

“Will you take me out then, Schaeffer?” Danny raised a hand with a laugh, he was only saying that to entertain his friends, Alice could tell. 

“Well I think you hardly deserve it,” Schaeffer was teasing, Alice thought, but it was hard to tell with her tone. “Now come on. I’ll escort you so you don’t get in trouble.” 

“We’ll get ourselves home,” Danny insisted. 

“Hey. I’m not risking that. Listen, back at PEIP headquarters everyone has been down my neck about letting Perkins off the island, so don’t make this any harder for me okay? Just stay inside.” 

“Hey,” Deb wiped a tear of Alice’s cheek as she spoke. “Is it really that harmful to be going out at night, ma’am? Who’re we hurting?” 

“Well yes, we can have one hundred people on the beach past curfew, and maybe ninety nine of them just want to play, but there’ll always be one person who will try take advantage of the system. They’ll swim themselves back to Clivesdale, and you know what that means?” 

“They’re a good swimmer?” Sof suggested, clicking her tongue at the thought. That was a long swim. 

“No, it means we’ve risked the infection spreading to Clivesdale, and then we have to start this whole thing over again. So can you just stay inside? A couple months more? Just do what your told so this can all go away?” 

Danny and Sof couldn’t think of anything to say, so she elbowed him and he elbowed her. 

“Don’t ruin this for everyone else, okay? Just stay home.” 

“We weren’t gonna swim,” Alice managed to get a breathe of fresh air through her tears, and Schaeffer looked over to see what she was saying. “I promise.” 

“We were going down to see the lights, colonel,” Deb finished the sentence for her. “Apparently they’re really pretty.”

Schaeffer let a low chuckle tip off her lips. “The lights, huh?” 

“Yes, ma’am,” Deb nodded. “Down at the shore. We thought they’d be really pretty from here.” Alice could tell she was trying not to get too verbose or romantic in front of Danny and Sof. “I wanted to show Alice, that’s all.” 

She glanced between Danny and Sof and then Alice and Deb before holding a finger to her lips to completely kill off the noise, even Alice managed to stop crying. “I’m not going to make a report, okay?” She promised. “But keep your voices down, I could hear you from miles away, and I bet every other officer on patrol could too.” 

“Yes, ma’am. We will,” Deb shot Danny a look that said she’d serve him his consequences later. “We’ll go home now. We’re sorry. Thanks for letting us off.” 

“Who said I was escorting you home?” She tucked her torch into her utility vest. “You wanted to see the lights, didn’t you?” 

Alice could almost hear jaws dropping. 

“You’ll let us go?” Deb asked. 

“See? I told you Schaeffer was the coolest!” Danny exclaimed, punching Sof’s side. 

“You’ve never said that once!” Sof retorted with a laugh. 

“Oh, you hurt my feelings. Keep your voice down,” her laugh sounded like a grunt. 

“Hey, Ally,” Deb squeezed her hand. “It’s all alright, the colonel is gonna take us to see the lights, we aren’t in trouble,” she nodded. 

Alice gulped, rubbing her eyes with the scratchy material of her sweater. “Okay,” she didn’t know what else she could say. She had still been caught, and that didn’t make her feel any good. She’d never get over it. 

“Well, I always say Schaeffer’s the coolest because now we don’t have school on Wednesday’s,” Sof brought up. 

“Because it’s examination day,” Schaeffer cut in. “Not like you two go to school much anyways,” she added. 

“Well I always say she’s the coolest because she lets me skip testing sometimes.” 

“Uh, no I don’t,” she turned back around to give him a quizzical look and he paled. 

“I mean-“

“Hah! No, I’m just joking. Yes, I can’t make you take a blood test every week. Plus, you’re always high. I don’t think that can give a good reading. Just don’t tell Emma and Melissa about that.”

“See! The coolest!” Danny reiterated. 

“Well I think she’s the coolest because she told Bill not to be so pissed with me,” Deb snorted. 

“Oh yes, that one was me that time,” Schaeffer gave a pleased purr, but it sounded more like a growl. “Arguing should be the least of our problems while we’re all locked in here together.” 

Alice felt bad that she couldn’t say anything. “Well, I think it’s very nice of you to take us to the lights.” The idea that if they had wound up on any other section of the beach on any other night they would’ve been caught by a different officer made her too frightened to even think about it. 

“Well, if I take you now it means you won’t try again, I hope.” Everyone went quiet at the reminder they were still sort of in trouble. “But they are pretty. That’s why everyone on night patrols fight for this side of the beach. It’s like just like ‘72,” she nodded with a huff. 

“72?” Sof asked, Alice didn’t want to know. 

“Oh, how can I explain it to someone your age? What’s that game all you kids play? I hear about it all the time from the younger ones. You know, you’re out in the land and you have to kill things and you build things?” 

“What, a battle Royale? Do you mean fortnite?” Danny suggested. 

“We don’t play that. That’s for like, twelve year olds.” 

She waved a hand. “No, not that one. You have swords, and you craft things.” The crashing of waves was getting louder.

“Minecraft?” Alice said instead, she didn’t know if mentioning that would make her seem lame in front of Danny and Sof.

Schaeffer clicked her fingers. “Yeah, it’s just like Minecraft.”

A tense silence followed. Danny was definitely going to be the one to laugh first before Deb stuck slapped him on the back to shut him up. “Uh, I don’t think it’s like Minecraft.” 

“Ugh. Well, I don’t know what that game’s about, probably not,” she shrugged. 

“What was 72?” Sof asked again and Alice preemptively put her hands over her ears, not hard enough to block out the colonel’s voice though. 

“There was a cannibal incident! Uruguaya,” she declared. “God, what do they teach you in schools these days?”

“Not cannibalism,” even Danny seemed a little shocked. 

“Hey, maybe I should reopen Wednesday school, huh?” 

Alice wasn’t actually sure what aspect of the game the colonel was comparing it to. Maybe she did mean the former. But she was the only one working it out because everyone had started to laugh again. 

“Shh. Another officer will hear us,” Alice dipped her head down, her toes curling up inside her shoes. 

“Well. What do you think?” 

“Ally,” Deb laced their fingers together, nudging her. “Look. We made it.” 

“Huh?” Already? She glanced up, the water just lapping at Sof’s bare feet. 

The Clivesdale lights were on. All the little apartment buildings and late night offices and homes and towers, little squares of light so far away, all reflected against the still of the channel, the water itself was almost glowing. All the little headlights on the tiny cars skimmed across the water when they drove by the docks, and the radio towers pulsed red and green. It was like a light show, the closest thing to the northern lights she could think of. The town was alive, no curfew or anything, it was almost like she could touch the living world.

With a shaky breath of excitement Deb’s thumb ran against the back of Alice’s hand. “See?” 

Alice nodded. She saw. They were like stars, giant stars, or maybe they were just like her fairy lights. But something about it was magical. 

“Hey Deb?” She began, almost able to smile again as Schaeffer chided Danny and Sof for their all too loud gasps of excitement.

“Yeah Alice?” 

“This is way better than fairy lights.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I had to revive this for obvious reasons but also bc uhm I love an excuse to write Schaeffer & Melissa and this fic originated it


End file.
